Education and culture of national minorities in the city of Rijeka

Republika Hrvatska ima status multikulturalnog društva. Na prostoru države žive 22 priznate nacionalne manjine koje, uz prava koja uživaju državljani hrvatske narodnosti, imaju pravo na ostvarivanje i nekih posebnih prava – poput odgoja i obrazovanja na manjinskom jeziku i pismu, održavanja kulturne autonomije i sudjelovanja u javnom životu i u predstavničkim tijelima. Cilj ovoga rada bio je ispitati obrazovni i kulturni položaj talijanske, srpske i romske nacionalne manjine u gradu Rijeci koji se ubraja među najmultikulturalnije gradove u Republici Hrvatskoj. Uvid u obrazovanje i kulturu nacionalnih manjina u gradu Rijeci postigao se kombiniranom kvantitativnom i kvalitativnom metodom istraživanja. U kvantitativnom dijelu ispitani su pripadnici tih triju nacionalnih manjina o iskustvima tijekom školovanja, razini aktivnog sudjelovanja u kulturnim događanjima i svečanostima svoje kulture te upoznatošću s radom Vijeća nacionalne manjine. Rezultati su pokazali da su ispitanici imali pozitivna iskustva tijekom školovanja što se tiče osjećaja njihove prihvaćenosti, no da se u školi koju su pohađali nisu posebno obilježavale svečanosti i događanja vezano za njihovu kulturu. Rezultati su također pokazali da su ispitanici djelomično upoznati s običajima i svečanostima koji se obilježavaju u Rijeci te da su nešto manje upoznati s radom Vijeća nacionalne manjine. U kvalitativnom dijelu istraživanja provedeni su polustrukturirani intervjui s predstavnicima Vijeća talijanske, srpske i romske nacionalne manjine. Rezultati su pokazali da ispitanici smatraju da aktivno rade na unaprjeđenju obrazovnog i kulturnog položaja nacionalnih manjina u gradu Rijeci, iako navode da je njihova međusobna suradnja vrlo površna. Zaključak provedenih istraživanja jest da je obrazovni i kulturni položaj istraživanih manjina u gradu Rijeci generalno povoljan.The Republic of Croatia has a status of a multicultural society. The region of the state is inhabitated with 22 acknowledged national minorities whom, besides the rights they share with citizens of Croatian nationality also are entitled to attaining special rights. These rights include education and upbringing conducted in minority language and script, maintenance of cultural autonomy, participation in public and civil service. The aim of this paper is revolving around the educational and cultural state of the Italian, Serbian and Roma minorities based in the city of Rijeka which counts as one of the most multicultural cities in the Republic of Croatia. The insight to the cultural and educational state of national minorities in the city of Rijeka was achieved through combination of qualitative and quantitative methods of research. The quantitative part is based on a questionnaire about their experiences during schooling, the level of active participation in cultural events and ceremonies of their culture, and their familiarity with the work of the Council of a national minority. This part of research provided results that show that they were accepted in school, but they did not celebrate ceremonies and events related to their culture in school. The results also showed that respondents are partially familiar with the ceremonies celebrated in the city of Rijeka, however results also pointed out lack of public knowledge concerning the work of minority Council. The qualitative part of the research consists of semi-structured interviews with members of the Italian, Serbian and Roma Council which indicated great effort was put in order to improve educational and cultural state of national minorities in the city of Rijeka, even though they state mutual communication is perfunctory. Conclusion based on conducted research is that the cultural and educational state of aforementioned minorities in the city of Rijeka is generally favorable