An eight-year-old boy from the Serbian community in the Municipality of Gracanica has been left outside the school system. Although his home is located right next to the “Sveti Sava” school, Gjorgje is being deprived of his right to education.
His mother, Aleksandra Trajkovic, claims that her son has not attended classes since March 5, due to what she describes as pressure and unfair treatment from school management. On the other hand, the school principal, Milan Dimitrijevic, has denied these allegations, stating that the school has at no point prevented the child from attending classes.
However, Trajkovic told KosovaPress that after receiving assistance from the Government of Kosovo to build her house, the school principal allegedly began exerting pressure on her and her son, which, according to her, eventually led to the child being removed from school.
The Ministry for Communities and Returns builds and allocates houses for families from non-majority communities in Kosovo, as part of return and reintegration programs. One of the beneficiaries of this program is the family of Aleksandra Trajkovic in Gracanica, who, according to her, moved into the new house on January 20, 2025, after the keys were handed over by the Minister for Communities and Returns, Nenad Rasic.
But it is precisely this, Trajkovic says, that became the “source of conflict” for her and her son. She even claims that the situation escalated to the Municipal Center for Social Work.
“The child has not been going to school since March 5. I have a problem here with the principal, Milan Dimitrijevic, who is pressuring me as a single mother and my eight-year-old son, Gjorgje. This is happening because the Government of Kosovo, specifically the Ministry for Communities and Returns, built the house here. The construction started in September 2024, and last year Minister Nenad Rasic handed me the keys so I could move in. I moved in on January 20, and as soon as the child moved into this house built by the ministry, principal Milan Dimitrijevic ‘expelled’ the child. Constant pressure on both me and the child. The principal even threatens me that he will take revenge through the Center for Social Work and the police, to the point that I don’t even dare go out into the yard. I have filed complaints and informed the Ministry for Communities and Returns about these pressures,” she said.
However, this is not the first time that Gjorgje has been prevented from attending classes.
Trajkovic says that when this happened last year, her son was returned to school in November by the then Minister of Education, Arberie Nagavci, although he was separated from his peers and faced other problems.
“Minister Nagavci returned my child to school on November 17 [2025]. From November 18, they separated my child for two months in a separate classroom. I complained that the child should be returned to his peers, and they eventually did, but he was not properly taught. There were constant problems — torn notebooks, missing supplies, taken books. Since the Ministry and the Government of Kosovo built this house for me, I have been under strong pressure from principal Milan Dimitrijevic, psychologist Mirjana Cirkovic, and pedagogue Gordana Savric,” Trajkovic said.
She added that due to the situation, she has decided to sell the house.
“I have put up a ‘for sale’ sign and I am leaving. I cannot live with these people, with Milan Dimitrijevic. My child came home and said, ‘Mom, the teacher choked me.’ When I went to speak with the teacher, they immediately called the Center for Social Work and started making plans to arrest me and take the child away,” she claimed.
However, all these allegations are denied by the principal of the “Sveti Sava” school, Milan Dimitrijevic. In a response to KosovaPress, he said that it is the mother herself who is not sending the child to school.
He stated that the school has at no point prevented attendance and that no threats were made against the child or his mother. According to him, the Center for Social Work was informed about the absence, and the mother continues to refuse cooperation with the school. He also stressed that the decision for the child not to attend school was made solely by the mother, without any official decision from the school or competent institutions.
Meanwhile, the Center for Social Work in Gracanica declined to comment, saying only that the case is open.
Until the publication of this report, the eight-year-old boy remains outside the school system. KosovaPress also reported that the Ministry of Education has been contacted but has not yet responded.
