Zilka Spahić Šiljak
TPO Foundation, Sarajevo
TPO Foundation marked five years of promoting the Ethos Program with a final conference in Hotel Hills in Sarajevo on October 19, 2018. We spoke about ethics, tolerance, openness and solidarity as well as other values around which we can gather as human beings and which we all have in common. It is important to us to share positive stories from BiH, stories about friendship, goodness, solidarity and understanding: stories about nuggets of humanity that we do not see sufficiently because public discourse is hijacked by negative images. Issues have to be discussed; however, we need to speak of the good more loudly than we speak of the bad. This will help us be more grateful, more humble and to nourish hope, because hopelessness can be any society’s greatest malady.
Over 250 teachers, pedagogues, principals and representatives of education ministries, pedagogy institutes and civil societies had the opportunity to see some of the results of the Ethos Initiative, which has gathered over 1000 teachers from five cantons and different schools in BiH. The conference was attended by teachers and students from many BiH cities and towns: Tuzla, Gradačac, Tešanj, Bužim, Bihać, Kupres, Orašje, Livno, Mostar, Jablanica, Konjic, Kiseljak, Visoko, Vareš, Bugojno, Jajce, Travnik, Sarajevo.
Emina Jusufbegović, the assistant to the minister for education, science and culture in HNC (Herzegovina-Neretva Canton), stated that it is important to implement education for peace and nonviolence and to promote ethical values in the educational system because teachers are one of the most important links in the socialization of an individual. Izet Numanović, an adviser at the Pedagogy Institute in TC (Tuzla Canton), spoke about the importance of mutual action by believers and non-believers because “mutual action … intended for greater good, and removed from both secular and religious fundamentalism, represents one of the fundamental aims of the project.”
Sedžida Hadžić, a teacher at Third Gymnasium Sarajevo, reminded us of the fundamental imperative: “Always act in a way makes the maxim, the basic principal of your will, applicable to all people!”, which is (as she clarified) expressed in Confucius’ Golden Rule: “Don’t do to others what you don’t want done unto you.”
Fra Ivan Nujić from the Franciscan Gymnasium Visoko spoke about values of forgiveness and reconciliation and the role of young people in applying universal values in the accelerated process of social changes, because “young people adapt easier than older people, they create room for a broader application of World Ethos values in society in general by having young people as the driving force in these positive changes. One of the most difficult tasks in that respect is the healing of a society by eliminating the desire for revenge, by creating a culture of solidarity, reconciliation and forgiveness.”
Using short films and presentations, elementary school and high school teachers (Alma Ahmethodžić, Mirza Jahić, Selvira Mašnić, Amela Petričević, Dženaida Čengić) presented their accomplishments in teaching about ethical values in their school community and their local community. They were proof of how little encouragement, courage and faith can go a long way in creating a climate of friendship and a sense of community.
Representatives of religious communities were partners with Ethos Initiative in creating special trainings on the humanist perspective of ethos for teachers of religious studies. Prof. Dr. Mato Zovkić expressed his admiration for TPO Foundation’s efforts and continued by saying the following:
Activists of NGOs which promote interethnic cooperation in the field of ethical values are doing an important job, but they cannot achieve permanent results in the long run if they do not cooperate with representatives of religious institutions and until they have opened their programs to everyone who is religious. Whether we call this effort ‘world ethos’ – like Hans Küng – or ‘global ethic’ – like the church leaders in Chicago in 1993, we all have an instinct for true values and general goodness. Being different, we can cooperate in contributing to such values in the plurality of our country.
Dr. Nezir Halilović from the Riyasat of the Islamic Community in BiH said that the Islamic Community is always open for participation in programs that promote greater good and that the Ethos Initiative has been a living proof of that for the past five years.
Elma Softić-Kaunitz from the Jewish Municipality of Sarajevo stressed the importance of core values and the concept of neighborhood (“komšiluk”) and accepting a different person and a foreigner who comes for a visit, which is something Ethos Initiative teaches as well.
Nikolina Tomšić from the Catechetical Office of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna highlighted the good cooperation TPO Foundation has had with the Catechetical Office in educating teachers of religious studies.
Živi vrijednosti: globalni etos u lokalnom kontekstu (Living values: Global ethos in local context), a collection of essays edited by Zilka Spahić Šiljak and Melika Šahinović, was also presented at the conference. Teachers and pedagogues wrote the essays on the topics of universal values from their personal perspectives, with dreams, hopes and concrete actions aimed at making this world a better place little by little.
For the promotion of the book, the editors were joined by Prof. Dr. Nerzuk Ćurak, Prof. Dr. Ivan Šarčević and Prof. Dr. Spahija Kozlić, the reviewers of Živi vrijednosti.
Professor Ćurak wrote in his afterword to the book that NGO programs are crucial for transforming social consciousness:
For that reason, TPO Foundation has decided to direct its educational resources to the most important state and social structure of every responsible political community, and it has been offering to the BiH educational system a professional expertise, which came from the most superior theoretical findings and methodical practices of contemporary sciences on peace, non-violence, education, ethics…
Professor Ivan Šarčević reminded everyone that the problem lies in the fact that transcendental values are today ascribed to lower values instead of God, and that there is a lack of humility and gratitude, as well as readiness for sacrifice, because great values demand great sacrifices. Professor Spahija Kozlić stressed how “dia-logos, promoted by Ethos Initiative through teachings on ethical values from both religious and non-religious perspective, is of greatest value in a time when it is – unfortunately – easier to be successful than moral.”
The conference was concluded with the announcement of winners of the competition “Living values: Draw values”, to which students of elementary schools and high schools in BiH applied. Students presented on large posters the universal values they find important, such as family, friendship, love, tolerance and solidarity.
A panel of expert judges (Neven Misaljević, Fra Ivan Nujić and Dr. Nezir Halilović) chose the three highest-ranking drawings from the category of elementary schools and high schools, as well as two more drawings that were awarded special prizes.
The first prize in the category of elementary schools was awarded to a student from Husino Elementary (Tuzla), a school that has entered the procedure for ethos school certification. Led by their extremely enthusiastic teacher, Amela Petričević, students presented the values they adhere to in their school, the values they live and promote.
The first prize in the category of high schools was awarded to two students from Srednja mješovita škola Gračanica, Amra Dizdarević and Edisa Bečić.
Second and third places, special awards, and a special place at the exhibition was awarded to students from Bosanska Krupa, Travnik, Sarajevo, Orašje, Stolac, Banovići and Bijelo Polje (Mostar). Their drawings were exhibited for the participants of the conference at the end of the program.
The network of teachers, pedagogues and other educators and administrators who have contributed to the Ethos Initiative will continue to work on creating islands of positive energy and to direct their efforts towards spreading light instead of exhausting themselves in banishing darkness.