UNSECO INTERESTED IN CRO SCHOOL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECT

PARIS, Mar 11 (Hina) - UNESCO's department for education is interested in including in its global project on information technology in education a sample from a primary and secondary school information technology programme being developed by the Croatian Education Ministry under the name "CROSNET". Croatia's Deputy Education and Sports Minister Miroslav Dubesic on Thursday discussed international experience in and models of information technology for schools, as well as UNESCO's "Virtual Education Community" project, with officials of UNESCO's department for education. Dubesic, who just completed a working visit to the UNESCO, during today's talks in Paris also spoke about Croatia's "CROSNET" project. "CROSNET" focuses on connecting computer systems of primary and secondary schools into a single communication system, which would enable pupils and teachers to conduct everyday communication not only within schools, but among schools, and with the Education Ministry as well. The head of the office coordinating the mentioned UNESCO project, Hans Werner Resom, showed a great interest in "CROSNET", and suggested the Croatian Education Ministry forward a letter of intent to be included in the UNESCO project via a pilot project. Several Croatian schools would, as part of the pilot, serve as samples to gather experience in and check the feasibility of the UNESCO project. (hina) ha