ZAGREB, Feb 25 (Hina) - Four projects, worth 3.4 million kuna (446,000 euros), which should serve as the basis for changes in Croatia's education system, were presented at the Ministry of Education and Sports in Zagreb on
Tuesday.
ZAGREB, Feb 25 (Hina) - Four projects, worth 3.4 million kuna
(446,000 euros), which should serve as the basis for changes in
Croatia's education system, were presented at the Ministry of
Education and Sports in Zagreb on Tuesday. #L#
Participants in the projects - the Ministry of Science and
Technology, the Ministry of Education and Sports, and the Institute
Open Society Croatia - signed an agreement on mutual
responsibilities before reporters today. The document is a
supplement to a letter on co-operation between the government and
Institute Open Society Croatia, signed two and a half years ago.
The projects will be conducted by the Centre for Education Research
and Development, which under the letter on co-operation was founded
within the Institute for Social Research.
Education and Sports Minister Vladimir Strugar said that the
projects, to be realised in the next two years, were expected to
resolve key issues concerning education.
Tomislav Reskovac, executive director of the Institute Open
Society Croatia, stated that the Institute did not intend to
interfere in the content of education, but rather to support expert
debates that would enable "healthy" public decision-making about
such significant matters.
The head of a project of the so-called external evaluation, Petar
Bezinovic, announced the introduction of state matriculation,
adding that it would not be possible to introduce it before 2005.
The projects presented relate to the development of models of so-
called pre-tertiary education (primary and compulsory education),
permanent education of teachers, the assessment of curricula etc.
The projects are the first joint task that was inspired by the
letter from 2000. In the past ten years, the Institute Open Society
Croatia invested US$38.5 million in different projects in Croatia,
and most funds were earmarked for education - US$8.3 million.
(hina) sp rml