Serbia
Summary
At the start of the twenty-first century, Serbia required substantial inputs to reconstruct its damaged educational system. Many schools were damaged in the violence of the 1990s and stood in major need of repair at the turn of the millennium. Educational equipment was in considerably short supply, and teaching materials sometimes were provided by international organizations such as UNICEF rather than by the state, due to Serbia's severe economic problems and the economic embargo on the country. The most needed reforms to be made in the educational system of Serbia—other than repairing basic infrastructure in Serbia and Kosovo—centered on democratizing education, both from a procedural and a management standpoint, and making learning a more active enterprise for students and teachers alike. Kosovo was receiving substantial support in this area by the year 2000 from the international community, but assistance to Serbia was slower to follow due to the political and economic constraints on the republic and the slow pace at which Serbian and Yugoslav officials complied with the demands of the International Criminal Tribunal. Curricula also needed to be revised to more accurately depict historical events and to reflect the multicultural, multilinguistic nature of Serbia and the rest of the Balkan peninsula. In June 2001 a large conference of international donors met in Brussels to discuss an international package of financial assistance to the former Yugoslavia, including Serbia and Kosovo. Much of the US$1.2 billion in funds pledged at the conference was designated for the educational sector to cover the salaries of educational personnel and to rebuild war-damaged schools and equip them with the materials needed to restart and improve educational programming. By 2001 Serbia seemed to be marking a new political direction for itself that would lead to social and economic improvements for the people of Serbia and Kosovo, including in the field of education. The possibilities for enhancing the educational system seemed promising as the government of Serbia prepared to develop a comprehensive educational reform package and to receive the necessary financial means to implement the desired reforms, including educational changes that would stimulate the Serbian economy and promote greater cooperation across Serbia and Kosovo, the other Balkan states, and beyond.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
American Friends Service Committee. "Background to the Kosova Conflict and NATO Bombing." In Stop the War in Kosova—FOR [Fellowship of Reconciliation] Resource Packet. Nyack, NY: Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1999.
Amnesty International. "Europe" and "Yugoslavia (Federal Republic of)." In Amnesty International Report 2001. Available from http://web.amnesty.org/.
Berryman, Sue E. Hidden Challenges to Education Systems in Transition Economies. Washington, DC: The World Bank, Europe and Central Asia Region, Human Development Sector, 2000.
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. "Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of." In Country Reports on Human Rights Practices—2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, February 2001. Available from http://www.state.gov/.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The World Factbook 2000. Directorate of Intelligence, 1 January 2001. Available from http://www.cia.gov/.
Ciagne, Gina. World Bank Grant Helps Rebuild Kosovo's Education and Health Sectors. Washington: The World Bank, 10 May 2000.
The European Commission. The EU and South Eastern Europe. 2001. Available from http://europa.eu.int/.
European Commission and the World Bank's Program for Reconstruction and Recovery in Kosovo. Economic Reconstruction and Development in South East Europe: Information about Kosovo. Available from http://www.seerecon.org/.
European Training Foundation, European Union. Education System [in Serbia]; ETF Activities; FRY—Serbia; and Republic of Kosovo: Guide to the Foundation Montenegro's Support to Vocational Education and Training/Labour market reform in the Republic of Kosovo in 2001. Available from http://www.etf.eu.int/.
Gianaris, Nicholas V. Geopolitical and Economic Changes in the Balkan Countries. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1996.
Government of the Republic of Serbia. Serbia. Available from http://www.serbia-info.com/.
Hull, Richard E. Imposing International Sanctions: Legal Aspects and Enforcement by the Military. Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 1997. Available from http://www.ndu.edu/inss/insship.html.
Human Rights Watch. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia—Serbia and Montenegro: Human Rights Developments and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia—Kosovo. World Report 2001. Available from http://www.hrw.org/.
Independent Task Force with Steven Rattner, Chairman and Michael B.G. Froman, Project Director. Promoting Sustainable Economies in the Balkans. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, Inc., 2000.
International Association of Universities/UNESCO International Centre on Higher Education. Yugoslavia—Education System. World Higher Education Database 2000. Available from http://www.unesco.org/.
Nutshellnotes.com. The World in a Nutshell: Yugoslavia. Available from http://www.nutshellnotes.com.
Palairet, Michael. The Balkan Economies c. 1800-1914: Evolution Without Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Pupovci, Dukagjin. Statistical Data for Background Purposes of OECD Review—Country: Kosova. Ljubljana, Slovenia: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Centre for Educational Policy Studies, December 2000.
South East European Educational Cooperation Network. Step by Step in Kosovo. Available from http://www.seeeducoop.net/.
UNICEF. Yugoslavia. Available from http://www.unicef.org/.
Van Praag, Nick. Press Release: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Joins World Bank. 8 May 2001. Available from http://wbln0018.worldbank.org.
World Bank Group. Yugoslavia, FR (Serb./Mont.) at a Glance. Available from http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/.
——. Yugoslavia, FR (Serbia/Montenegro) Data Profile. World Development Indicators database. Available from http://devdata.worldbank.org/.
World Bank, Human Development Network. Education Sector Strategy. Washington, DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, 1999.
World Bank, the Task Force on Higher Education and Society. Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise. Washington, DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, 2000.
Zindovic-Vukadinovic, Gordana. Statistical Data for Background Purposes of OECD Review—Country: Serbia. Ljubljana, Slovenia: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Centre for Educational Policy Studies, January 2001.
—Barbara Lakeberg Dridi
Additional topics
Education - Free Encyclopedia Search EngineGlobal Education ReferenceSerbia - History Background, Constitutional Legal Foundations, Educational System—overview, Preprimary Primary Education, Secondary Education