On its way to European integration, Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified a large number of conventions and international instruments - the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the UN Standard Rules for Equalizing Opportunities for people with disabilities - which discuss basic human rights, but also the rights of people with disabilities. According to the articles of the aforementioned conventions and declarations, which refer to general rights, but also the rights of persons with disabilities, Bosnia and Herzegovina has committed itself to ensure a fulfilled and decent life, active participation within the educational system, and encouragement of individual development for persons with disabilities in psychophysical development. of every child at all levels and giving priority attention in accordance with his abilities, needs and interests. Implementation of the aforementioned laws and policies, i.e. binding articles of the same led to a discourse on inclusion and inclusive education in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In accordance with the principles of inclusive education "(…) schools should accept all children regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other characteristics. This particularly applies to children with disabilities or gifted children, children living on the street and working children, children from remote or nomadic populations, children belonging to linguistic, ethnic or cultural minorities, as well as children from other vulnerable or marginalized areas or categories.» (Declaration from Salamanca and Framework for work in the education of students with special needs, paragraph 3.).

According to the Research Report Mapping Inclusive Practices in Basic Education in BiH (2008: 7), there are numerous obstacles to effective inclusive education, including socioeconomic factors that expose children to the risk of social exclusion, curriculum content, negative attitudes towards diversity, school environment, fragmented development of human resources, etc.. Although entity and cantonal ministries of education have adopted a series of policies aimed at ensuring access to and attendance at quality primary education for children with special needs and Roma children, their implementation is significantly limited by the lack of financial expenditures, lack of human capacity to implement the aforementioned policies, which leads to the fact that prescribed services are only partially provided, which on the other hand makes it impossible to include children with special needs and Roma children in the regular education system.

The special report on the state of the rights of children with special needs/disabilities in psychophysical development (2010) published by the Institution of Ombudsman for Human Rights of BiH, with the aim of identifying the problems of children with special needs, points out that Bosnia and Herzegovina is also facing a serious task of social reform which has not yet started and the postponement of which only complicates the already difficult social situation in the country.

The process of inclusive education in BiH began to be implemented in 2004, after the Framework Law on Primary and Secondary Education was adopted (Official Gazette of BiH No. 18/03). Article 19 of the aforementioned Law states that children and young people with special educational needs receive education in regular schools and according to programs adapted to their individual needs. An individual program, adapted to their capabilities and abilities, will be developed for each student, with the mandatory determination of defectological and speech therapy status. Children and young people with serious disabilities and difficulties in development can be partially or fully educated in special educational institutions in cases where it is impossible to provide appropriate education in regular schools.

The review and analysis of the situation carried out by the Open Society Fund of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013) indicates that in terms of implementation, it is still evident that there is a large gap between legal regulations and actual practice in schools and preschool institutions. One of the essential prerequisites for the implementation of inclusion is the engagement of teaching assistants, i.e. professional persons who can provide support and help in the implementation of the teaching and extracurricular process in the educational institution, while cooperating with teachers/educators, educators-rehabilitators, all students/children (and children with special needs), parents, the pedagogical service and the management of the educational institution institutions (Support for inclusive education teaching assistant, 2011). The main goal of inclusive education is to increase the possibility of enrolling students with special needs in regular schools with the aim of respecting diversity in accordance with the contextual principles of a moral and ethical society.

In contrast to the Sarajevo Canton, where the need for the education of staff who can respond to the challenges of inclusive education was recognized, the Senate of the University approved the Elaboration on the justification of the establishment of the Department of Education and Rehabilitation within the Faculty of Education in 2016/17. academic year. At the level of the University of Zenica, there is no study program that would educate specialists of this profile. The need for the same is obvious, when the current situation in education is analyzed. According to the data available to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of ZDK, the number of registered children with developmental difficulties in 56 elementary schools in ZDK, who are included in the regular education system in the 2016/17 school year. year was 384, i.e. 1,25% in relation to the total number of students from 1st to 9th grade (30733). It should be emphasized that the analysis includes only data on children with medical documentation or the Decision on categorization. Data by category: hearing impairment 14 (3,65%), speech and language impairment 31 (8,07%), chronic diseases and physical impairments 97 (25,26%), intellectual disabilities 49 (12,76%), behavioral problems 33 (8,59%), combined interference 137 (35,68%).

Teachers face great challenges in the context of implementing inclusive education. Study programs that educate educators often do not pay enough attention to inclusive education within their syllabus. At the level of the University of Zenica, there are only three study programs: Social Pedagogy, Preschool Education, Classroom Teaching within the two organizational units of the Faculty of Philosophy and Islamic Pedagogy, where within the syllabus, in the form of compulsory or elective courses, students are given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with Special Pedagogy and Inclusive education. The methods of inclusive teaching are not studied, although they are very necessary, given that our country is a signatory to many international agreements that oblige it to implement certain educational standards.

 Excerpt from the Elaborate on the launch of Inclusive Education studies

Teaching (lectures and exercises) at the undergraduate study at the Department of Inclusive Education is conducted by professional teachers and associates with appropriate choices for teaching and associate positions.

Teaching team for ac. 2023/2024. you can download the year HERE.

Dear students, you can download the NPP of the Department for Inclusive Education HERE.