ZAGREB, December 13, 2018 – Parliament on Thursday debated the Croatian People’s Party (HNS)-sponsored bill on school textbooks which has caused friction in the ruling coalition. The opposition said that Education Minister Blaženka Divjak’s approach was like ‘putting a new facade on a house that is falling apart” while Divjak said that she had received “a lot of warnings not to touch the current law” because too many interest groups were involved.
“The ministry’s interest is to care for students, teachers and the state and household budgets,” Minister Divjak said and added that the bill was not imposing digitisation but would just give a variety of options regarding teaching material while those favouring classic printed material would be able to continue using it.
“With whom would digitisation be currying favour when the same publishers who make printed textbooks will make their digital versions. Some are just more prepared than others to adapt to the fourth industrial revolution while others have filled their warehouses with printed books,” Divjak said.
The proposed bill gives teachers greater autonomy and possibilities to choose in line with their needs with regard to innovative teaching methods, the minister said.
With regard to demands for free textbooks, Divjak said it was necessary to determine the cost involved and who would cover it, as well as to ensure that quality was obtained for money rather than enabling someone to make an extra profit.
MOST MPs criticised the bill, claiming that the minister was trying to put a new facade on a decaying house and warning of the huge difference between rural and urban areas. MP Miro Bulj said that the minister should be focusing on the state of schools. “Two-thirds of Croatian schools look like they are from the Middle Ages. There are 2,700 fewer secondary school students, seven schools have been closed… two-thirds of children in Croatia lack adequate conditions and you are talking about something that might happen,” Bulj said.
Social Democrat Sabina Glasovac called on the minister to lead schools into the 21st century by ensuring that roofs on schools were repaired and teachers’ salaries were increased.
Divjak replied that the incumbent government was doing more to equip schools than was the case before and added that she was aware of the conditions in schools.
Under the proposed bill, school bags should be lighter, with more digital classes and lower costs for parents. The bill defines the maximum price for a set of textbooks for each grade, setting the weight of a complete set for grades one to four at a maximum 3 kilograms or its price at no more than 460 kuna. A set of textbooks for grades five and six would weigh 5 kilograms and for grades seven and eight, six kilograms.
MP Robert Podolnjak (MOST) said that “education is being reduced to kilogrammes” and wondered if this was the practice in the EU.
Speaking on behalf of Milan Bandić’s Work and Solidarity Party (BM365), MP Kazimir Varda said Minister Divjak’s presentation of the bill did not focus on textbooks but on denouncing fake news and comments.
He recalled that the BM365 parliamentary group, which is part of the ruling majority, wanted the bill to make sure that the state provided funding for textbooks in all elementary schools and that the government decide each year on funding textbooks for secondary schools, depending on the availability of budget funds.
If that is not accepted, the parliamentary group will not support the bill, Varda said.
More news on Croatia’s education system can be found in our Politics section.
