OSCE Mission to Serbia supports educational reform for Serbian as a non-mother tongue language

As part of its programme on human rights and non-discrimination, the OSCE Mission to Serbia supported the first initial meeting of teachers and experts on 16 and 17 December 2014 in Belgrade on Serbian as a non-mother tongue language.

The meeting, organized in co-operation with the Ministry of Education, Sciences and Technological Development and the Institute for Evaluation of Quality of Education, aimed to provide an assessment of the current state regarding teaching Serbian as non-mother tongue language in different minority areas across Serbia.

The participants, representatives of national minorities, teachers, and experts offered recommendations as reference points for the 2015 experts group which will define relevant new teaching standards for Serbia.

“While States should provide education in minority languages for members of national minorities in line with the OSCE recommendations, people belonging to national minorities would integrate more easily by acquiring proper knowledge of the State language,” said Ambassador Peter Burkhard, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

Persons belonging to national minorities in Serbia are disadvantaged when studying the Serbian language due to an outdated programme and curriculum. A lack of knowledge of the Serbian language might lead to further segregation among communities. 

The OSCE Mission to Serbia will continue to support the necessary reform of the language curriculum as well as the integration of all members of society into public life.