Cultural situation in Kosovo
Recommendation 1511
(2001)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 25 April 2001 (12th Sitting) (see Doc. 9053, report
of the Committee on Culture, Science and Education, rapporteur:
Mrs Poptodorova). Text adopted by the
Assembly on 25 April 2001 (12th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
1. Culture and education are amongst
the first victims in any conflict: the war in Kosovo is no exception
to this rule. At the same time, culture and education are a most
efficient long-term means for the prevention of such conflicts as
they help to eradicate the stereotypes, prejudices and intolerance
which lead to them.
2. The educational system in Kosovo needs urgent, massive support,
not only because of the destruction of facilities and the lack of
teachers but, above all, because of the ongoing segregation of children
and students of different ethnic origins and because of the potential
risk of developing educational policies based on nationalist rhetoric
and hate speech.
3. Other major problems in the field of education are the high
drop-out rate between primary and secondary education, in particular
among girls and in the countryside, the lack of teacher training
and the inadequacy of teaching methods, the very low level of pre-school
attendance, the lack of parental involvement since the end of the
conflict, the non-schooling of disabled children and the prevalence
of corruption in the university.
4. Another area of great concern, where urgent action is needed,
is the protection of the rich cultural heritage. The built heritage
of Kosovo, Ottoman, Serbian and Albanian, has suffered the effects
of years of neglect and war and is now suffering the effects of
large-scale, uncontrolled and unregulated reconstruction.
5. The situation is chaotic due to financial, administrative
and logistical problems, a lack of co-ordination between international
and non-governmental organisations and because of the extent of
unauthorised and sometimes illegal activities. There are a large
number of dedicated professionals with great expertise, working in
local institutions, which have been isolated, undermined and under-funded
for many years.
6. The Council of Europe should also contribute to reactivating
the cultural landscape, the enactment of efficient media legislation
and provision for media self-regulation. Youth and sports programmes
are also needed and could do a lot to ease the climate of tension.
7. The recent conflicts in the Balkans have clearly shown that
the existing problems there cannot be tackled on the local level
only. Thus the Assembly believes that the Council of Europe commitment
to the revival and the democratisation of processes in the field
of culture and education in Kosovo should go alongside efforts in the
same direction in Serbia and in Montenegro even if it is not yet
possible or advisable to try to link them.
8. The scope of the challenges that the international community
has to face is unprecedented. The long experience of the Council
of Europe in co-ordination and in providing expertise both in terms
of technical assistance and in mediating complex questions of educational
and cultural rights places it in a very strong position to make
a substantial contribution.
9. In this respect, the Assembly welcomes the two agreements
signed with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (Unmik) and the
World Bank on assistance to reform the education system from primary
to higher education.
10. The Assembly also welcomes the publication, in co-operation
with the European Commission, of the “Study on the State of the
Cultural Heritage in Kosovo”, in the context of the Technical Co-operation
and Consultancy Programme and the Action Plan for Cultural Heritage
in Kosovo.
11. Accordingly, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of
Ministers ensure the means for the Council of Europe to maintain
its decisive role in providing assistance and promoting co-operation
in the field of educational and cultural matters in Kosovo.
12. The Assembly also recommends that the Committee of Ministers
continue to assess thoroughly, in collaboration with the Unmik,
other international organisations and NGOs, the needs for assistance
in culture, education, media, cultural heritage, youth and sport
issues, in particular to:
12.1 assist
in the process of drafting the legal framework for provisional self-government
in Kosovo in its fields of competence;
12.2 ensure efficient decentralisation of responsibilities
in the fields of education and culture, as far as possible independent
of local political pressures;
12.3 support the ongoing project for training the 26 000 teachers
in Kosovo as a most urgent step to increase the quality of teaching;
12.4 complete the revision of curricula and textbooks;
12.5 support exchange programmes and the mobility of teachers
and students in general, inter alia, by addressing visa restrictions
in a constructive way;
12.6 continue to encourage the reform of higher education with
a view to raising academic standards, to ensuring the autonomy of
the university, to eradicating corruption and to aligning the University
of Pristina with the Bologna Process;
12.7 promote a policy of equity in the schooling of Kosovar
children with a view to bridging the gap between ethnic groups while
taking into account the special educational needs of disabled children;
12.8 ensure that local educational initiatives – in particular
those designed to counteract segregationist thinking – are encouraged
and developed with the aid of moral and material support, so that
what have been isolated projects become the rule rather than the
exception;
12.9 support youth organisations and promote wherever possible
the use of non-formal education as a way of overcoming division
and discrimination.
