On Tuesday, April 1, 2025, an Open Day was held to mark the 100th anniversary of the Institute for Ethnic Issues (INV). Accompanied by three teachers and principal Lorieta Pečoler, the INV visited classes of eighth-graders at Koseze Elementary School. Researchers and other INV employees imagined a “labyrinth” of five content stations for the schoolchildren, through which they traveled in search of new knowledge.
After a welcome by the director, Prof. Dr. Sonja Novak Lukanović, the young people went to the INV Library, the central unit for collecting materials on ethnic studies in Slovenia, where the employees introduced them to a brief history of Slovenia and the presence of the Slovenian language in the wider region. They also learned some interesting facts about how the borders in our regions have moved over the centuries and how these historical changes have affected the Slovenian communities that remained outside the territory of today’s Slovenia. The INV team also presented an interactive map, the library’s latest acquisition, which contains a range of useful information about minorities in Slovenia as well as Slovenian communities abroad.
After the first stop, the children divided into two groups and visited the following thematic stations in smaller groups.
● The Italian and Hungarian minorities and the German-speaking community in Slovenia: to the great surprise of the schoolchildren, the staff members of the nationally recognized minorities spoke in their native languages and briefly presented what it means to grow up as a member of a minority, what special customs and rights their communities have.
● Immigrants and Roma in Slovenia: the staff presented some interesting facts about immigration to Slovenia to the young people and presented the Slovenian situation in the context of other members of the European Union. They explained why countries like Slovenia need to immigrate people from abroad, and they also spoke about the dangers of negative myths and stereotypes about immigrants and why they are not true. The information about Roma was particularly new for the schoolchildren: they learned general interesting facts about Roma, i.e. about the history and origins of the Roma, and that Roma Day (April 8) is approaching. Many were surprised that not all Roma in Slovenia understand each other due to the many different dialects, and that transmitting Romani languages to younger generations can be a great challenge.
● Slovenian minorities in Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia: this station was attended by people from abroad, employees of the Institute for International Relations, and researchers with strong contacts with the aforementioned communities. The schoolchildren were presented with key attractions of individual regions, the rights that individual communities have, and the common thread of all presentations was the exceptional importance of culture and the multitude of singing, theater, sports and other societies of Slovenian communities abroad, with the help of which they preserve the Slovenian language, their customs and identity.
To conclude, the two groups reunited in the Institute’s meeting room, where they listened to imaginative parables about the importance of diversity and respect for difference, and the greatest enthusiasm was provided by the prize quiz, during which the primary school students enthusiastically consolidated their acquired knowledge through cooperation and finding the correct answers.
Special thanks go to the principal of the Koseze Primary School, Mrs. Loriete Pečoler for her enthusiastic response to the INV initiative and her willingness to cooperate so that schoolchildren could learn more about INV topics, and to Ljubljana Public Transport (LPP), which provided transportation for young visitors from school to INV and back. The successful implementation of the open day prompted an agreement between the INV director and the Koseze Elementary School principal to continue cooperation between the two institutions.
