A school ahead of the system
By Nineta Popovic This story was written following a field visit to Odzak, a village near Bugojno, where the local community, supported by IBHI and UNICEF, implements the “Pedagogic aspects for improvement and protection of children with special needs” project. A relay race is underway in the yard of the Primary School Odžak near Bugojno; two classes are playing in teams. Melika’s team is in the lead. The end is getting near and she only needs to take the baton and run to the wall. While her friends are cheering, her excitement grows; she takes the baton and runs to the wall. Cries of joy fill the air. Melika’s team takes the victory. Her friends are hugging her while she gleefully laughs, knowing she has achieved something big. Melika is an eight-year-old girl with moderate mental impairment. Children with this type of mental impairment usually attend specialised schools, but since there is no such school in Bugojno, Melika attends a local primary school in Odžak. The children there readily accepted her. Although one cannot expect Melika to follow a regular school curriculum, attending classes is important for her primarily for the sake of her socialisation. A mobile expert team works part of the - “Pedagogic aspects for improvement and protection of children with special needs project”, which under the supervision of the Independent Bureau for Humanitarian Issues (IBHI) and UNICEF with funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, NORAD. The project is carried out by the Primary School Gračanica, non-governmental organisations Leptir and Sunce, the Center for Social Work and the Municipal Board and Local Community Odžak. The aim of the project is for the Ministry of Education to establish pedagogical standards and evaluate the work of the mobile expert team and to achieve a greater level of awareness among children, parents and teachers, to ease the process of inclusion of children with special needs into regular education. The mobile team consists of a pedagogue, psychologist, specialized education workers, social worker, teacher and representatives of the local municipal board. The team faces many difficulties and challenges. The absence of a “Book of Rules”, laws, guidelines or recommendations for working with children with special needs in Central Bosnia Canton is one of the biggest challenges. Inclusion, as part of the education system in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not regulated at the national, but is differently regulated in 2 entities, 10 cantons and 1 district which makes coordination at national level extremely complicated. While in some cantons, such as Sarajevo, guidelines and a legal framework exist and are being applied in practice, in other cantons the issue is not regulated at all. Notwithstanding this, inclusive classes are organized with educated and enthusiastic teaching and professional staff, willing and interested in sustaining these practices. In this regard, the local primary school in Odžak is ahead of its time, system and law.
Another problem affecting this area is the extremely difficult socio-economic situation. In rural areas such as this one, a large number of families live off agriculture, and the income, in many cases, can barely pay for the family food. Poverty is often an obstacle to the education of children, so it is not uncommon to find children not attending school at all. The number of people in this area with special needs is rather high in comparison with the total population. According to some estimates, as much as 10 per cent of the population is affected by some form of mental difficulty. This is also one of the problems the mobile team faces because the parents of children with special needs most often face special need themselves, and thus their contribution to the project is not possible. The lack of financial rules and regulations at the district level has prevented the Municipal Office from giving support to this and similar projects. Consequently, this project has depended on donations and voluntary work. This is exactly why it is paramount to legally regulate inclusive classes as soon as possible, and to improve guidelines for working with children with special needs on a national level. This would enable a large number of these children to realise their right to education. Representatives of municipal boards have taken it upon themselves to present this problem to the Ministry of Education as soon as possible and to lobby for the enactment of the law that would regulate the inclusion of children with special needs and to issue the necessary guidelines.
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