In response to a letter from the Croatian Helsinki Committee that raised the question about the problems the 13-year-old boy had faced in the Split school Trstenik, the ministry stated on Thursday that the director of the school had consulted experts and the education department of Split County before it was decided on the transfer of the boy from the Trstenik school to another primary school.
On Tuesday, Slobodna Dalmacija daily reported about the teenage boy having been expelled from a Split primary school on racial grounds.
Describing the article as incorrect and sensationalist, the head of the Split County education department Nansi Ivanisevic said then that the 13-year-old coloured boy "has a number of problems, but they are in no way connected with racism".
"On the other hand, we dare say that the difference in his skin colour made the boy popular and well-liked among his classmates," Ivanisevic said in a press release, and added that "the boy's sad private story has been used for unfair purposes".
According to the article, the boy has been going through a difficult period since the divorce of his father, a Croat, and mother, a Liberian. Besides, he is a few years older than his former classmates in "Trstenik".
With regard to problems of children with insufficient knowledge of the Croatian language while attending primary school, the Ministry has over the past three years taken a series of steps that already produced some results.
In this context, the issue of Roma children with little knowledge of Croatian was mentioned.
One of the steps for solving this problem is the enrollment of Roma children in two-year pre-school education in kindergartens. This has proved to be a successful measure.
In the 2005/2006 school year, 2,291 Roma children were registered in Croatian primary schools. This school year, the figure has raised to 2,946.
The Ministry reiterates in the statement that in Croatia every child enjoys the right to education in accordance with the national Constitution and other relevant regulations, and the Ministry is committed to ensuring that these rights can be exercised.