2024
Provision of school meals for children at risk of poverty
“Provision of school meals for children at risk of poverty“ is a project financed by the European Union – The Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), and the period of its implementation is from September 4, 2023 to December 22, 2023, i.e. the first semester of the 2023/2024 school year. The purpose of the Project is to provide regular free and healthy meals for primary school students whose families are beneficiaries of child allowance, to reduce the social exclusion of socially vulnerable groups, to reduce the risk of poverty, to raise awareness of the problem of nutritional poverty and excessive food waste.
The Act on Amendments to the Primary and Secondary School Education Act
In January 2024, new amendments came into force. The Act on Amendments to the Primary and Secondary School Education Act (OG 156/ 2023). The act stipulates that an educational institution can, with the prior consent of the Ministry, enter into a fixed-term employment contract with an employee for the purpose of implementing an experimental programme. The contract can be for the duration of the whole-day school experimental programme, but not longer than six years. Also, Article 111 is amended in such a way that the Republic of Croatia, as a full member of the European Union, participates in the management and work of European schools and posts educational staff to European schools.
Decision on the allocation of funds for equipping secondary school libraries with compulsory reading and professional literature in 2023
In October 2023, the Ministry of Science and Education issued a Decision on the allocation of funds for equipping secondary school libraries with compulsory reading and professional literature in 2023. The criterion for the distribution of available financial resources is the number of students in all secondary schools that are financed from the State Budget of the Republic of Croatia.
2023
The National Plan for the Development of Education and Training until 2027 and The Whole-Day School Model (WDS)
The National Plan for the Development of Education and Training until 2027 which was adopted in March 2023, defines in more detail the implementation of the strategic goal and priority areas of public policies for the education sector from the National Development Strategy 2030.
Measures at the level of the specific objective No. 2. The objective of Improving the educational outcomes of students in the primary and general secondary education system is aimed at infrastructural and organisational adaptation of the system and preparation of schools for the introduction of the whole-day school, enrichment and extension of the total duration of the school day, improvement of the curriculum and teaching practices, improvement of the working conditions of teachers and expert associates that encourage better learning outcomes and greater efficiency and improvement of professional development.
The Whole-Day School Model (WDS) aims to extend the period of learning and teaching and thus the acquisition of key competences for lifelong learning. As part of the WDS, the number of teaching hours in key literacies is increased, while support, assisted, and enriched learning is systematised. In the first step, the whole-day primary school in Croatia is being introduced into the education system in the form of an Experimental Programme, the implementation of which will begin in the 2023/2024 school year.
Through experimental implementation, new subjects are introduced into the curriculum: Science, Society and Community, Practical Skills, Information and Digital Competences and World and I. Experimental curricula and associated educational outcomes will be used for the new subjects. Experimental curricula, as well as guidelines for teachers for the implementation of new subjects in primary school, were published in May and July 2023.
Based on the Public call for primary schools to submit applications for participation in the Experimental Programme, the Ministry of Science and Education selected 62 primary schools which will participate in the Experimental Programme "Primary School as a Whole-Day School – balanced, fair, efficient and sustainable education system".
2022
Amendments to the Primary and Secondary School Education Act
In December 2022, the Croatian Parliament passed amendments to the Primary and Secondary School Education Act (Official Gazette, 151/2022).
Until then, in accordance with the applicable Primary and Secondary School Education Act, OG, 133/20), elementary schools were obliged to organise nutrition of students while they are at school in accordance with the prescribed norms. However, the law did not prescribe the method, nor the possibility of co-financing or financing student meals from the state budget. The exception was financing of students with developmental difficulties for whom the costs of transportation, food and special teaching materials are covered by the state budget.
In order to protect parents' standards and mitigate negative consequences of the global economic crisis and inflation, by amending Article 143 the Government of the Republic of Croatia now may make a decision on the financing or co-financing of meals for elementary school students for each school year. Such a decision has been made starting with 2023.
As before, nutrition for students will be organised by the owners and founders of elementary schools. Based on the mentioned amendment starting with the 2nd school semester in 2023, EUR 1,33 per student will be allocated from the state budget so that each student can be provided at least one free meal.
(Pravilnik o izmjenama i dopunama Pravilnika o elementima i kriterijima za izbor kandidata za upis u I. razred srednje škole)
(Pravilnik o izmjenama Pravilnika o uvjetima i postupku izbora učitelja za rad u hrvatskoj nastavi u inozemstvu)
(Pravilnik o načinu ostvarivanja prava na besplatne udžbenike za hrvatske branitelje iz Domovinskog rata i članove njihovih obitelji)
(Pravilnik o načinu ostvarivanja prava na besplatne udžbenike za civilne stradalnike iz Domovinskog rata)
Ordinance on the implementation of the School Honey Day Programme from Croatian apiaries, 2022
(Pravilnik o provedbi Programa školski medni dan s hrvatskih pčelinjaka)
(Pravilnik o izmjenama i dopunama Pravilnika o provedbi Nacionalne strategije za provedbu školske sheme voća i povrća te mlijeka i mliječnih proizvoda od školske godine 2017./2018. do 2022./2023.)
(Pravilnik o kriterijima slabijeg imovnog stanja polaznika srednje škole radi plaćanja troškova smještaja u učeničkom domu)