At its session held on 14 January, the Education Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia established the final list of candidates for membership on the National Education Council. The Committee is to forward the list, with names of 117 nominees, to the National Assembly, which is expected to nominate 42 members of the National Education Council at its upcoming session.

The Education Committee noted that the Minister of Education, Slobodan Vuksanovic, had overstepped legal authority and contravened the conclusions of the Committee and the opinion of experts in authorising the introduction into schools in the Republic of Serbia of the subject “Bosnian language with elements of national culture”. The Committee expressed strong condemnation of such action by the Minister of Education, and demanded that the decision be annulled, i.e. that instruction of the subject be discontinued until it such a time as it is regulated by law.

The chairperson of the Education Committee, Donka Banovic, is to convene a Committee session for next week to re-assess the issue of introduction of instruction in the Bosnian language in the municipalities of Tutin, Sjenica and Novi Pazar. The Minister of Education, Slobodan Vuksanovic, is to be invited to attend the session.