He is best known for his radio program which covers the life of the blind in Sarajevo. Today, Zeljko is the host, writer, and producer of a radio show on foreign policy and is a regular commentator on the public RTV Radio and Television service of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Before embarking on the topic of how blind people live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we need to establish some important information about this relatively young country. Today, approximately 4 million people live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The state, previously one of six republics of Yugoslavia, gained independence after the break-up of Yugoslavia in the s. The Bosnian war followed and lasted for three and a half years, ending with the Dayton Agreement in With this agreement, the state is now divided between two administrative entities: the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
About 5, blind and partially sighted people live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is data that the associations of the blind have collected; there are no official statistics. Organized education of the blind began after World War II in Yugoslavia, and special education was valued during the communist regime.
At that time, there were three educational institutions: a primary school for blind and partially sighted children in Sarajevo, a school for adult education in the small town of Derventa, and a secondary school that educated workers in plastic, metals and textiles production. At the end of that period, the education of the blind in the IT sector began, mostly as computer operators.
During the war, schools were either completely or partially destroyed. Soon after the war, they were renovated thanks to international donations and received their first students as early as and High school students in Sarajevo were educated as phone operators and, somewhat later, as physiotherapists.
