EU supports integrating ethics and integrity contents in school education throughout BiH
“Ethics and anti-corruption contents are either completely absent or very rarely mentioned in school curricula, and consequently little present in teaching in primary and secondary schools at all levels of government in BiH”, reads one of the conclusions of the Analysis of anti-corruption education in BiH in schools, media and through NGO activities.
The in-depth Analysis was presented at the virtual conference, organised within the EU funded project "Institutional Support to Anti-Corruption in BiH - IPAK" on Thursday, 10 December and is now available on the projects webpage: http://ipak.ba/en/clanci/analize-i-preporuke/analiza-stanja-u-oblasti-edukacije-omladine-i-generalne-javnosti-u-pogledu-opasnosti-i-negativnog-uticaja-korupcije-u-bih.
The Head of Operations Section for Justice, Home Affairs and Public Administration Reform at the EU Delegation to BiH, Nicolas Bizel pointed out that anti-corruption builds on simple principles like fairness and team spirit that everyone understands. “The lack of ethics and integrity is one of the most important reasons for the flourishing of corruption in BiH. We need to stimulate better sense for ethics and integrity, since this is of vital importance, particularly for the prevention of corruption”, said Bizel.
He also reminded the authorities that it has been a year since the final draft for the new BiH Anti-corruption Strategy and Action Plan for the period 2020-2024 was developed, but still it is not adopted by the CoM. Therefore, he called on the institutions of BiH to adopt the new strategic framework before the end of this year that is already the first implementation-year.
Director of the Agency for the prevention of corruption and coordination of the fight against corruption (APIK) Hasim Šabotić underlined the importance of enhancing integrity in the society, including required measures in the anticorruption strategic documents. Director Šabotić said that the recommendations of the analysis are of high quality and can be used as a basis for the creation of an anti-corruption culture in BiH and added: “APIK is ready to initiate and coordinate this process within its jurisdiction and capacities".
The analysis was presented by the IPAK project experts, Radenko Udovičić and Mirela Porobić. The analysts highlighted: 1. it is necessary to arouse political will and support in order to make the introduction of anti-corruption education mandatory in all primary and secondary schools on the territory of BiH; 2. Ethics training for teachers needs to be continued and formalised; 3. It is necessary to coordinate support to this process with civil society organizations and the donor community.
The Conference gathered 40 participants: including Heads or representatives of the Agency for the prevention of corruption and coordination of the fight against corruption (APIK) as well as anticorruption bodies from other levels in BiH, the Ministry for Civil Affairs of BiH, the Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary education (APOSO), the Ministries for Education from all levels of Government in BiH, the Pedagogical institutes at all levels, the Directors of schools in which related pilot projects were implemented in the past, representatives of CSOs active in the fight against corruption education, and individuals which contributed in previous work on curriculums recommended by the analysis.
The Analysis was produced under the IPAK-project funded by the European Union in the amount of 650.000 EUR aiming to support corruption prevention bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina through strategic, legal, and operational advice as well as to inform citizens of the damages caused by corruption.