Only 2.1 percent of the country's adult population are included in the system of primary education, the EU average being 10 percent.
Our goal is to draw closer to the EU average by 2010, said Science and Education Minister Dragan Primorac.
He warned that around 64 percent of employees in Croatia have only primary education and that 8,000-10,000 high school students fail to complete their secondary education. It is estimated that at least one-third of them would graduate from colleges or institutions of higher education.
Around six percent of primary school children fail to complete their primary education and 67 percent of college students fail to graduate, while in Austria the average is 50 percent, Primorac said.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said that the government would work towards enabling people to continue education after compulsory and college education. He added that Slovakia has a university for older people.
Under the government's proposal, institutions for adult education will be founded by the state, units of local self-government and legal and physical persons. Along with regular education, the proposal also provides for the possibility of education through consultations and tutorials, correspondence classes, distance learning, etc.
In order to monitor the education of adults, the government has set up an agency for adult education and secured 2.4 million kuna from the budget for its work.
The government today also sent to parliament a final bill on theatres.