Serbian ministry demands corrections in textbooks which deny Croatian language

A Serbian language textbook for eighth-grades by a group of authors says that the South Slavic group of languages consists of Serbian, Slovenian, Macedonian ,and Bulgarian while "Croatians, Bosniaks, and some Montenegrins call the Serbian language Croatian, Bosnian, Bosniak, or Montenegrin".

This definition of South Slavic languages is stated in Serbian language textbooks published by all other publishers in Serbia and it reflects the position of the Institute for Serbian Language, which holds that South Slavic languages are Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovenian, and Serbian, and that the latter should be accompanied by a note saying that Croatians, Bosniaks, and some Montenegrins call it Croatian, Bosnian-Bosniak, or Montenegrin.

Acting on a request by Ombudsman Zoran Pasalic, who in January this year requested the withdrawal of the said textbook over violation of ethnic minorities' rights and negation of their languages, of which Croatian and Serbian are in official use in Serbia, the Education Ministry said it had sent instructions to publishing companies under which the classification of South Slavic languages should be accompanied by a narrative explanation, without a table or a list.

The ministry also requested the publishers to make sure the contentious textbooks that were still on the market included a page with the said correction.

Pasalic's reaction was prompted by the Croatian National Council (HNV) in Serbia, which in October 2021 found out that eighth-graders in Serbia were taught that the Croatian language did not exist.

This drew protest also from the Institute of the Croatian Language and Linguistics, as well as Croatian President Zoran Milanovic and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

HNV president Jasna Vojnic said that she was positively surprised by the latest actions of the Serbian state bodies as the many previous cases of discrimination and non-compliance with laws had not been acted on.

She expressed the belief that, with this latest decision, Serbia "had made a step forward towards becoming a state where every citizen would feel equal and safe."