The Education Ministry was seemingly surprised by the beginning of the school year.
The new school year started yesterday, but without school registers for all teachers who use them to record students’ attendance and marks. According to unofficial information from the current Education Ministry leadership, the culprit for the delay is Pavo Barišić, who was the Education Minister until a few months ago, reports Index.hr on September 5, 2017.
The primary cause of the delay is the delayed adoption of the Regulations on Pedagogical Documentation, in which some amendments were made. It was only adopted in May, which was too late. The Regulations came into effect on 1 September, which meant that the printing of the school registers could not be finished in time.
However, according to sources from the Ministry, not all registers have been delayed. Since some did arrive at schools and others did not, it is likely that the main mistake was made in the number of registers ordered.
Part of the responsibility could also lie with the Narodne Novine public company, which prints the registers. The company recently changed its management structure, while the Ministry also has a new minister.
A source close to current Education Minister Blaženka Divjak says that she has requested a prompt response from all the relevant authorities in order to find out where the omission occurred. The Ministry was not aware of the problem until the first day of the school year, which was yesterday. Orders for new registers usually take place automatically without the involvement of ministers and their closest associates.
Still, the issue should not cause too many problems, because teachers are not expected to examine or assess students in the next ten days. By 15 September, all registers should be in schools.
People who know how the system works argue that the problem is solely at the Ministry since Narodne Novine distributes registers only on the basis of orders received from the Ministry.
Narodne Novine allegedly sent a large number of emails to the Ministry about a month and a half before this school year, warning that there might not be enough registers, but they never received a reply. They received orders just for some registers, which they did print and distribute.
Translated from Index.hr.
