Dear Prime Minister Plenković,
Dear Minister Barišić,
Matko Glunčić, State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, said in the TV show ‘Točka na tjedan’ on N1 TV on December 11 that the test results of pupils had been worse due to the fact that they included ‘national minorities’.
Such statement cannot be explained in any other way than as the statement of racism.
The level of prejudice, misunderstanding, as well as of ill intent necessary to make such a statement, is certainly disqualifying for performing the duty currently performed by Mr. Glunčić. For this reason, we demand that you immediately remove Mr. Glunčić from the position of State Secretary of the Ministry and on behalf of the Ministry and Croatian Government offer an apology to pupils belonging to national minorities.
Also, it should be borne in mind that, according to the rules, persons with developmental challenges and those who do not attend school in Croatian language cannot be included in PISA testing. In that respect, this statement is not only racist, but also shows a high level of ignorance of the education system and research its development is based on, making the State Secretary incompetent, as well.
We use this opportunity also to draw your attention to the existing problems in the education of national minorities. Namely, the Republic of Croatia has not fully implemented the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case Oršuš and others v. Croatia yet. Further, according to the minority associations’ analyses, more than half of the pupils from the Serb national minority do not attend any of the modules of minority education.
Hence, minority education in Croatia is obviously low on the list of priorities and the Ministry obviously does not do enough to ensure, in accordance with regulations and international obligations, education in a native language and alphabet for many groups in Croatia. Instead of education based on compliance with regulations and obligations, what pupils belonging to minorities receive from the Ministry are racist insults.
This is absolutely inacceptable and requires your quick and determined reaction. Every day that goes by with Mr. Glunčić as the State Secretary is a day of you demonstrating that the Croatian Government shares his racist position.
Sincerely,
European Grassroots Antiracist Movement – EGAM
Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Croatia (Croatia)
Photo: Preiss/ MSC
