Ljiljana Čolić

Doctor Ljiljana Čolić (Serbian Cyrillic: Љиљана Чолић) (born 1956, Zemun, Belgrade, Yugoslavia) is a former Minister for Education and Sport in the Government of Serbia.

Personal life and achievements

Čolić, an Orthodox Christian, is a professor of linguistics at the University of Belgrade and she holds a graduate degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in philology. She works as an associate professor teaching Turkish at the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade; and in Priština, she worked as guest professor at the Faculty of Philosophy.

Čolić is a deputy in the Federal Parliament and one of the founders of the Democratic Party of Serbia. She speaks English, French, Turkish, and Arabic fluently.

Political life

Čolić was confirmed as Minister of Education and Sport in March 2004. As a conservative government superseded a reformist one, Dr. Čolić worked hard to alter and reverse changes from the previous government. These measures included: suspending the teaching of English from first grade; limiting the use of modern and sophisticated methods; and the introduction of Serbian Orthodox religious teaching as a compulsory subject from the first grade. She also banned computer sciences from schools because she considered them bad for health.

She made an appearance in the international mass media spotlight on September 7, 2004, when she ordered Serbian schools to suspend the teaching of evolution unless they introduced creationism. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/09/wdarw09.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/09/ixworld.html]

Researchers, teachers, the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts and some 40 non-government organisations and human rights groups voiced their concern over such a move, including UNICEF. Nikola Tucić, a Belgrade University biology lecturer, described the education minister’s ruling as a "disaster." He stated that it was "outrageous" in a comment published by Glas Javnosti. He went on that teaching biology without Darwin is "senseless", "becoming a theocratic state and in the 21st century", and going "back to the Book of Revelations". The Serbian administration initially backed her decision, stating "accumulated scientific knowledge on the origin and development of man is full of voids"; however, after widespread protest, on September 9 of the same year, Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica reversed the decision and announced that Čolić would be replaced.

On September 16, 2004, she resigned after talking with the prime minister. Slobodan Vuksanović was named to replace her in October, 2004.

In June 2006 she published a book titled "Put" (path), staunchily defending her actions as a minister of education. On the official promoting of her book, she claimed that during her tenure, when she asked foreign advisors why they pushed so hard for the reform of Serbian education, she got answer that "they need plumbers, not educated people" (Politika newspapers, June 13, 2006, page 10).

Quotes

* "It is normal that a minister's personality leaves a mark. This is my mark and time will tell if I was right."
* [on "Darwinism"] "is a theory as dogmatic as the one which says God created the first man." (interview in "Glas Javnosti")
* [on "Darwinism"] "His theory is taught in the sixth grade for 12 lessons. I doubt that anywhere in the world, Darwin's, still unconfirmed theory of the development of species, gets that much attention")
* "Both theories exist in parallel and legitimately in the rest of the world."
* "The words written by Desanka Maksimović "Od kolevke pa do groba najlepše je školsko doba" should lead you through your school time" - addressing the new pupils at the start of new school year. (She misquoted the sentence and mistook its writer Branko Radičević with Desanka Maksimović)

External links

* [http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=25466 Interpress Service News Agency]