The protesters carried banners with messages about neglected education and balloons reading "Education Priority" which they pierced.
Addressing the protesters, the leader of the Croatian Teachers' Union, Mato Elkaz, said that unionists were protesting against the discriminatory treatment of science and education in the allocation of budgetary funds.
"We are protesting because our plan to stop our salaries from lagging behind other salaries was not accepted, that difference is now 12 percent, and in a year's time it will be 20 percent," Elkaz said.
The leader of the Independent Union of Secondary School Employees, Nijaz Karic, urged a parliamentary debate on the education system and a national consensus on its reform.
The leader of the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education, Krunoslav Pisk, said that the authorities were unable to identify development priorities.
The unions' requests are similar to those of the World Bank, which has requested additional GDP allocations for the reform of the education system, Pisk said reiterating that Croatia was a hostage to small parties such as the Pensioners' Party.
The unions demand a 6.5 percent GDP allocation for education and science instead of the announced 4.4 percent, making salaries in education and science equal to those in other public sectors, a selective approach to salaries, and the reform of the school and science systems.