A Chara, - While Kosovo and the ongoing policies of ethnic cleansing no longer feature in world news headlines, the Milosevic regime in Serbia is continuing to abuse the education system for their own purposes. The Serbian parliament has just enacted legislation which gives the Serbian Government control over acedemic hiring and firing in the country's universities.
The rector of Belgrade University, Dragan Kuburovic, resigned following this decision and Serbian Cabinet Minister Tomislav Nikolic has threatened that students would lose the academic year and teaching staff their jobs if the university went on strike. He also pledged more police intervention if protesting students again took to the streets. Those who have taken to the streets have been beaten by the authorities despite the fact that all protests were peaceful.
Basic human and civil rights, including educational freedom, continue to be ignored by the Serbian authorities. Worse perhaps is the fact that western democracies seem to accept such developments. - Is mise, Malcolm Byrne
An t-Oifigeach Oideachais, Union of Students in Ireland, Aston Place, Dublin 2.
