by ANTANASIJEVIC ANASTAZIJA GOVEDARICA, KRSTIC JANA
Members of the Centre for Girls from Niš believe that school philosophy must not remain trapped in canons that exclude women and other marginalised authors, and that it must become a living and engaged practice of critical thinking about the contemporary world. On 7 May, they submitted a proposal to the Institute for Education Improvement requesting the introduction of gender equality themes, feminist deconstruction, and intersectionality into philosophy teaching in Serbian secondary schools.
The project itself was initiated by women philosophers who never received feminist education during their formal education. It represents a response to centuries of neglect regarding women’s contributions to philosophical thought, as well as the need to offer schools content that reflects contemporary social issues—such as gender equality, marginalisation, and the systemic invisibility of certain groups in the philosophical canon.
The project is led by Jana Krsti?, a PhD student in philosophy whom we interviewed. The team includes Jelena Joksimovi?, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, Natalija Petrovi?, Master of Philosophy, Saška Stankovi?, philosophy teacher, and Bojana Vuleti?, political scientist.
Why is it important to introduce themes of gender equality, feminist deconstruction, and intersectionality into Serbian school curricula?
The crisis in Serbia’s educational system has been in the public eye for some time. After the trajic shooting incident at the “Vladislav Ribnikar” Primary School two years ago,[1] this crisis surfaced in daily politics. Despite all the protests then, and today’s blockades and strikes by education workers, there have been virtually no changes to the education system. In fact, there have been no changes to the education system for decades, although the world we live in has changed dramatically.
Our education system needs serious reform. Research by KOMS shows that nearly two-thirds of young people do not believe they have gained relevant knowledge and skills that would prepare them for later life after completing secondary school.
When we talk about philosophy as a subject, according to the current curriculum (Official Gazette of RS 4/2020), the main goal is to develop critical thinking. However, many of the topics on which students should sharpen their critical minds are not current, leaving students unprepared to critically observe reality. The oppression of certain social groups, the history of marginalisation based on gender, class, skin colour, sexuality, and the like, as well as gender roles that do not leave much freedom for individuals in a patriarchal society, are integral parts of our everyday life.
If we aim to develop critical thinking, we cannot and must not omit all these interpretations of reality from the canon. The questions of what it means to be a woman/man and how women/men should behave and what they should do today are answered by parents, schools, media, the work environment, peers… Thus, the entire society constructs our identity by telling us what we are and what we are not, while the task of philosophy is to teach us to critically examine all of this.
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