ШКОЛОВАЊЕ АЛБАНСКЕ НАЦИОНАЛНЕ МАЊИНЕ НА КОСОВУ И МЕТОХИЈИ 1929–1941.
SCHOOLING OF THE ALBANIAN NATIONAL MINORITY IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA, 1929–1941

Author(s): Božica Slavković Mirić
Subject(s): History, Education, Cultural history, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), Inter-Ethnic Relations, Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: Albanians; Kosovo and Metohija; Kingdom of Yugoslavia; education; schooling
Summary/Abstract: In the period from 1929 to 1941, the territory of Kosovo and Metohija was part of the Vardar, Moravian and Zeta Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Based on the general Yugoslav census, 552,064 inhabitants were recorded in this area, of which 60.01% stated that they consider Albanian as their mother tongue. The Yugoslav state considered, in addition to regulating other spheres of life, the issue of education, especially the education of the Albanian national minority, was also very important. In the paper, through the analysis of archival sources, professional literature and the press, I deal with the Yugoslav efforts to integrate the Albanian national minority into the Yugoslav state through schooling and solving the problem of illiteracy. Albanians wanted to be educated in their native language, so some of them went to Albania, but from there they worked to spread the Great Albanian idea. The Yugoslav state tried to meet the Albanian students by saying that where classes were held in the state language, the Koran and science of religion were taught in the mother tongue. They also tolerated Muslim customs and religious observances. In contrast to state schools, the majority of Albanian Muslim children attended religious elementary schools, Sibiyan mektebs and mеdrеsas, which were approved by law by the Yugoslav Ministry of Education. However, these schools were mostly in inadequate buildings and with unqualified teachers, and according to the Yugoslav educational authorities, they were “nationally harmful”. The educational policy of the state did not produce the expected results, and the Second World War interrupted all educational efforts that had begun.

• Details
• Contents