Bosnia and Herzegovina

Between the ages of 15 and 18 or 19 (sometimes 20), students attend the third tier of schooling, 3V (vocational) or 3G (general or gymnasium). Again, special education is provided at the secondary level for students between the ages of 15 and 18. Students in the 3G tier take four years of instruction in academic subjects, after which they take examinations that lead to their admission to institutions of higher education. Students in the 3V tier take either three or four (sometimes five) years of training in vocational areas. In the Federation, attending Teacher school at the secondary level, which lasts four years, is one option for students. In both Entities secondary students can follow educational programs in Arts, Music, and Ballet schools (lasting four years), Religion schools (four or five years), Technical and related schools (lasting four years), and Crafts schools (lasting three years). Students in the Crafts schools take terminal exams that permit them to practice their craft commercially if they are qualified and/or to move on to higher education as Professional Craftsmen through a course and examination program lasting two years coupled with two more years of practical experience. Students in the four year technical-training programs at the secondary level take exams that allow them to go on to higher education training in their field. Other secondary students (e.g. those in the Gymnasium programs and the Teacher schools) take exams at the completion of their studies that permit them to enter appropriate institutions of higher education. Among the types of vocational education provided at the secondary level is religious education, which is offered through religion schools for students ages 15 to 19 in FBH and for students ages 15 up to 20 in RS.

In the year 2000, almost 9,000 secondary teachers were teaching students in BiH (both Entities). The number of teachers was about 3,400 in the RS, where 54,232 students were enrolled in a total of 92 public secondary schools in 1999-2000, yielding a student to teacher ratio of 16.1. Secondary level vocational students accounted for about 75 percent of all secondary students in the Federation in the 1998-1999 academic year and numbered 82,605 (for the Federation alone), with a pupil to teacher ratio of 21 to 1. As to vocational schools at the secondary level, the Federation had 37 types of technical and related schools covering 120 crafts and technical professions in the year 2000, while the RS had comparable programs in about 14 occupational areas for over 100 professions that year.