The students of five elementary schools in Tuzla (Jala, Centar, Brčanska malta, Tušanj and Catholic school “Sveti Franjo”) recently had an opportunity to participate in somewhat different classes than they are used to. The young people from 6th to 9th grade discussed many topics on national minorities in Tuzla such as the most common words in Roma and Albanian languages, arrival of Italians in Tuzla, traditional Macedonian meals as well as the most famous Slovenian authors.
They had an opportunity to get familiar with the customs and traditions of Roma, Albanian, Italian, Macedonian and Slovenian minorities in Tuzla. During these interactive classes, the students discussed the history of mutual living in Tuzla, different customs, traditions and culture as well as importance of nurturing understanding, tolerance and mutual respect. They learned about the history of national minorities’ arrival to Tuzla, characteristics of every national minority and also about the customs that citizens of Tuzla adopted from minority traditions and culture.
Danijel Bašić, principal of Catholic school “Sveti Franjo” stated that the “importance of the classes is reflected in the need that these young people and their personalities are profiled in a manner that shows how diversity can be enriching. Through this, one invests in future generations to promote and spread the values of tolerance, understanding and empathy.”
According to the students, the most interesting parts of the lectures were legends and learning words in minority languages. “It was very interesting. I was not aware of all the things they did for our city and the hardship their ancestors had to go through. What I am particularly happy about is the fact that they are fully accepted in our city.” said Uma Arslanagić, 7th grade student of elementary school Centar.
City of Tuzla is a multicultural environment. The first activity of the project “Promotion of national minorities” was another opportunity to find about the level of students’ knowledge on one another and how much they want to learn. This project is implemented by the City of Tuzla together with Roma Association “Euro Rom” and financed jointly by the European Union and the Council of Europe within the framework of the programme “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey.”
