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Educational and Vocational Backgrouns |
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Educational and Vocational Backgrouns |
| As beneficiaries of the state-mandated educational system in
former Yugoslavia, most Bosnians are literate in their own language. In
the former state system, education through the eighth grade was compulsory
for both boys and girls, after which a student could opt for either a
vocational trade school or the more academically oriented gymnasium in
order to finish his or her secondary education. Post-secondary education
was available at a number of university faculties in the larger cities.
"Workers' universities" filled the continuing education role of community
colleges in the US.
The authorities expected that students would complement higher education with practical learning. Most students were assigned a type of part-time apprenticeship related to their field of study. As the Yugoslav economy slowed in the 1980s, jobs for university graduates became increasingly scarce, and many students refused to finish their courses of study in order to continue to qualify for student benefits. Although Bosnian cities received a huge influx of immigrants from the countryside after World War II (for the period of 1949-1960 Peculjic gives the figure of 2,162,000 rural-urban migrants), Bosnia still retains a substantial rural population, especially in the northem region of Bosanska Posavina, just south of the Sava River. This population lives in small towns and villages throughout the region, engaging in agriculture and its supporting or related industries. Although presented in the foreign media as peasants in the Third World sense, their homes generally have electricity and indoor plumbing, and they may have owned a tractor, automobile, a VCRs or any other "Western" ammenity. Most have completed their primary education through the eighth grade. Some individuals have worked abroad, primarily as guest workers in the rest of Europe to help capitalize or improve their households. Some, especially those from outside the primarily agricultural zones, have been miners or factory workers. Some individuals have worked abroad, primarily as guest workers in Germany to help capitalize or improve their farms. Some, especially those from outside the primarily agricultural zones, have been miners or factory workers. City dwellers represent the variety of backgrounds found among city dwellers in Western Europe, and include librarians, teachers, bankers, engineers, linguists, truck drivers, merchants, etc. The war forced many to leave their homes and find safer place outside of Bosnia. Some of them were involved in putting this this short introduction to Bosnia's life together.
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