Guyon: New Serbian-language schools to open in US, Austria

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region Arnaud Guyon announced on Tuesday that more Serbian-language supplementary schools would be opened in the US and Austria.

In an official statement released on February 21, International Mother Language Day, Guyon said schools for Serb children in the US would open in Chicago, Milwaukee, Arizona, Detroit and Dallas and operate under an official curriculum of the Republic of Serbia.

He said a recent expat conference in Washington had shown there was interest in Serbian-language schools in the US.

"The Serbian language is the connective tissue of Serbs wherever they may live and that is why, for the third consecutive year, we celebrate February 21, International Mother Language Day, and the best way of doing it is to motivate our children in the diaspora to learn Serbian and to communicate in it mutually," Guyon said.

In collaboration with a local association of Serbian expats, the Directorate will also open ten Serbian-language supplementary schools in Austria that are due to start operating from September, the statement said.