UNIONS: CROATIAN SCHOOL SYSTEM LAGS BEHIND WORLD 20 YEARS

ZAGREB, Oct 5 (Hina) - The Croatian education system lags behind the modern world school system 20 years and budgetary funds for education, accounting for 3.2 percent of GDP, are two times lower than the European average, Independent Secondary School Teachers' Union president Andrija Puljevic said at a news conference on Friday. Puljevic told reporters on the occasion of the World Teachers' Day that teachers and students must not be the victims of the government's efforts to pull Croatia out of the crisis. Elie Jouen, deputy secretary of the world's largest association of school unions, Education International, visited Croatian school unions on the occasion of Teachers' Day. A union delegation and Jouen today met Vice Premier Goran Granic, Science Minister Hrvoje Kraljevic and his deputy Ivan Vavra. Jouen warned Granic about the need for better social dialogue with school unions. He described the government's recent cancellation of collective agreements for public services as absolutely unacceptable. Asked to compare the Croatian school system with those in other countries in transition, Jouen said it was better than in Albania, Romania and Bulgaria but lagged behind those in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. (hina) rml