ZAGREB, February 21, 2019 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday the government was determined to embark as of the next school year on a “frontal application” of the education reform and new curricula in every subject, adding that the goal was to have new generations know the values of the Homeland War, take clear positions on the Holocaust, and condemn the Ustasha regime.
Speaking at a government meeting, he said 37 curricula had been agreed, adopted and published, and that the two remaining would be agreed too.
Speaking of the history curriculum, Plenković said the government’s goal was to have the education system aligned to the market’s real needs. At the same time, the standard of the knowledge and the information people get through education must very clearly instil in children the key identity issues, the key value system, based on historical facts, and explain Croatian history, language and culture, he added.
“That’s our political goal – that new generations know what the values of the Homeland War are, and also that they take clear positions on matters such as the Holocaust, condemn those regimes that were the worst during World War Two. We have no dilemmas about the Ustasha regime.”
Speaking of a draft history curriculum that underwent public consultation and was fine-tuned, the prime minister said it did not downplay the Holocaust.
He said that after Education Minister Blaženka Divjak put the curriculum back into public consultation, the government would like “two or three more authorities from the academic community to be consulted so that a draft can be agreed on which we can reach a broad expert and social consensus.”
Speaking to the press before the cabinet meeting, Divjak reiterated that she decided to put the history curriculum back into public consultation because the draft she received from the expert working group downplayed the Holocaust.
She called on everyone to participate in the consultation without ideological disputes so that the most important historical events could be presented appropriately and students could understand them and take a position, for example by condemning the Holocaust.
More news on the curriculum reform can be found in the Politics section.
