At the “First competition of elementary schools about national minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina” held in Municipality of Prnjavor, three schools stood out with their knowledge and presentation of minority cultures, traditions and customs. These schools, “Branko Ćopić” and “Nikola Tesla” from Prnjavor and “Ivo Andrić” from Kulaši, presented the national identity of Italian, Ukrainian and Hungarian national minority in BiH.

Eighth grade students from eight elementary schools in Municipality of Prnjavor, as well as the Elementary musical school, composing 17 teams, presented their understanding of position, rights, customs, cultural values and the way of living of national minorities in Prnjavor and in the country. Their presentations focused on stage performances, quiz on national minorities, exhibitions, workshops as well as on culinary presentations.

the past two months, the students have invested a lot of effort and dedication to prepare for the competition. They all came out of it as winners as they gained a lot of knowledge about national minorities and they met their city and the people who live in it in a different way. They will also cherish the nice memory and experience they got from this competition. “This is a very memorable experience. We got to know better not only our city but all the nations and people living in it. All in all, today is a very special day for all of us”, said Dunja Vidić from “Branko Ćopić” school. “We are very happy to be part of this project and I want to thank everyone who helped us with our stage performance. This competition was great and we are glad that we are taking more knowledge and a beautiful memory with us. It was demanding to prepare everything but we had more fun in the process”, said Tea Kovačević from “Branko Ćopić” school.

This project, worth 10000 Euros, was funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe with Municipality of Prnjavor contributing both financially and organisationally. Municipality of Prnjavor is one of the five BiH municipalities/cities where these projects are organised within the Joint Project of the European Union and the Council of Europe “Strengthening the protection of national minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina” in the framework of the programme “Horizontal Facility” for Western Balkans and Turkey.