Belgrade, July 10 - "The Collegiate body of the Ministry of Education and Sport has taken a stance against introducing religious education into schools. We advocate gradual and comprehensive tackling of the matter, which means an appropriate curriculum and trained staff. As we see it, the task cannot be completed before September, however, we have received assurances from the Association of religious communities and the Ministry of Religion that the curriculum will be designed in due time. That is the reason why we have accepted to tackle the problem and all the resignations offered in the meantime, are now suspended," Assistant Minister of Education and Sport Zarko Mihailovic told the press conference.

According to him, the Deputy Minister Vibor Majic remains in office, after his resignation has been rejected. He himself has, nevertheless, reserved the right to irrevocable resignation in case the Ministry's reformist course continues to be inhibited.

The Assistant Minister of Further and Higher Education Srbijanka Turajlic also attended the conference. Her resignation has been given much public interest lately.

"I have not yet resigned, but I will if we don't come up with a solution to the problem of religious education by September. It is intolerable to allow political tyranny to continue in educational affairs."

The Ministry of Education has not renounced its authority and it will demand that the religious textbooks be reviewed by all confessional groups. As with any other school subject, there will be inspection, and research is to be conducted in collaboration with institutes on the impact of the new subject on religious and national tolerance.

Mihailovic also touched the introduction of Education on tolerance, human rights and democracy as an alternative to religious education.

"We have contacted the Council of Europe, which has the curriculum of this subjected studied in 41 countries. The syllabus will be designed in collaboration with the Council, though we have too little time on our hands for the introduction of this subject too.

The press conference was also attended by the representatives of the Resistance, the Student Union of Serbia and the Student Association of Belgrade, who, together with Zarko Mihailovic, put their signatures to the document on the distribution of places in student homes for 2001/02. All places will be put at students' disposal on the basis of merit. These three organizations, in collaboration with the Serbian government, will also control the issuing of student meal cards.

"As regards the university enrollment, things go smoothly. No leakage of exam questions has been reported. There have been objections as to the difficulty of the tests, primarily those at the Faculty of Medicine. We have checked it out and found the biology test to be an example of what a good test should be like. It is left to the discretion of particular faculties to enlarge their enrollment lists," Turajlic said.