Education and fragility in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This desk review is part of a larger Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) research project, ‘Situational Analyses of Education and Fragility’, which aims to better understand the relationship between education and fragility. The geographical focus of this review is Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The review examines the post-war period in particular, from the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFA, also referred to as the Dayton Agreement) in 1995 through to the present day. For the purposes of this review, ‘fragility’ is understood as referring to the multiple transitions the BiH State and society are currently undergoing, and the many challenges inherent in these transitions.

Although not widely considered to be a 'fragile state' by the international donor community, Bosnia and Herzegovina nevertheless remains fragile due to internal and regional political insecurity. The current political stagnation and absence of social trust in Bosnia and Herzegovina are due in no small part to ongoing disagreement about the country's identity and future. Such disagreement has implications for the education of the country's children and young people. It has been argued that the manner in which education was delivered during the 1992-1995 war supported the confl icting agendas of the three constituent peoples by stereotyping and promoting divisive histories. After the war, education was manipulated to perpetuate these divisions. The General Framework Agreement left a chaotic legacy for education, creating an institutionally complex structure which makes the task of educational reform exceptionally challenging. This desk review is part of a larger INEE research project, 'Situational Analyses of Education and Fragility'. It examines the post-war period in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in 1995, through to the present day.