In Slovenia, the Serbian language will be available in elementary schools from the next school year as an additional activity, and due to a large number of children who want to attend Serbian, the application deadline has been extended to March 1st.
This came about after the integration of numerous Serb organizations in Slovenia into one umbrella, and then with the agreement of the governments of Serbia and Slovenia.
The president of the Union of Serbs of Slovenia, Marko Sladojević, says that teaching Serbian will consist of three subjects – Serbian, Serbia, my homeland and the history and culture of the Serbian people.
Slovenia provides space in schools and covers consumed electricity, water and heating.
Teachers will be paid and selected by Serbia. Many communities have used this opportunity for years, except for the Serb community.
Sladojević points out that he knows that more children in Slovenia have studied Dutch, Ukrainian, Chinese as their mother tongue, RTS reports.
“This suggests that more Ukrainians, Dutch and Chinese live in this country, which is simply not true,” Sladojević points out.
Most children have been reported so far at the Livada School in Ljubljana – close to 30.
Goran Popović, the director who built his educational experience in Belgrade, says that there are an extraordinary number of thousands registered so far and hopes that the project will be well planned and sustainable.
“I just want the state of Serbia to persevere in that program, and not say after a year or two for one reason or another,” said Popović, who said that in that case, it would be difficult to restart.
Serbian Ambassador to Ljubljana Zorana Vlatković recalls the excellent ties between the two countries, the need to nurture them, and that learning a mother tongue is one way to build new bridges.
According to her, the organization of classes goes according to plan.
“We have already sent a large proportion of applications that have been received to the Ministry of Education so far in order to organize the competition,” emphasizes Vlatković.
She states that teachers who, according to regulations, may come from Serbia should be selected and, if someone meets the requirements, may be hired among people living in Slovenia.
TST
