ZAGREB, February 28, 2018 – Minister of Science and Education Blaženka Divjak on Wednesday commented on accusations against her by the Vigilare conservative non-governmental organisation, saying that it “should be ashamed,” called on everyone to first check the facts before labelling others, underscoring that it was necessary to avoid dealing with marginal topics and making children hostage to groups and individuals not interested in advancing the education system.
Vigilare on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to replace Divjak and accused her of “showing unwillingness or incompetence to seriously deal with the promotion of paedophilia, homosexuality and gender ideology in Croatian schools.”
Anyone who releases fake news without checking the facts should be ashamed, Divjak told reporters in parliament. She explained that she was referring to “the programme in which it was incorrectly reported that certain literature is on the required reading list, which is a lie.” She was talking about a programme on the HTV national broadcaster that discussed the Croatian language curriculum.
She underscored that everything that is being introduced in schools is checked, that official documents are accessible to all and that they should be checked before any accusations are made. She called on the public to become involved so as to avoid dealing with marginal topics and making children hostage to groups and individuals who are not interested in advancing the education system.
In other educational news, parliament today debated a bill on vocational education. It provides a legal basis for learning based on work experience, dual education, and centres of competence through which a billion kuna from European funds can be absorbed, Divjak said.
In this way, counties will get centres of competence and students a place where they will not just be educated but where they can collaborate directly with employers, teachers will have an opportunity for life-long learning and training, and this will also enable access to higher education, particularly at polytechnics, and in that regard this is certainly a very important demographic measure, Divjak said.
