ZAGREB, August 29, 2018 - The pilot-project "e-Schools: Establishing System of Development of Digitally Mature Schools" has resulted in an increase in the digital maturity of 10% of primary and secondary schools in Croatia, which is the main result of that successfully completed project launched by the Croatian Academic and Research Network (CARNET) and its partners three years ago.
Over the past three years, the project covered more than 7,000 teachers and more than 23,000 students, and helped introduce appropriate ICT infrastructure and equipment in 151 schools.
The project's second phase will last from 2019 to 2022, it will be conducted in cooperation with the Science and Education Ministry, and it will cover all schools in the country.
The value of the pilot project is close to 307 million kuna, and the EU has co-financed it with 85% of the amount. The value of its second phase is estimated at 1.3 billion kuna.
Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak said that she believed the project had opened many windows and given many answers, notably considering the European Commission's estimate that 65% of all first-graders who now start school will have jobs that do not exist today, and that more than 90% of jobs will require digital competence.
Divjak said that in the last 18 months all schools had improved the level of their digital maturity and that the project was designed to cover all schools and include every student and teacher in the process of digital transformation.
She said there was a synergy between the project and the introduction of information science as a compulsory subject to be taught in fifth and sixth grade, with emphasis being on problem-solving, programming and on-line security, as well as the experimental programme "School for Life", which would start in schools on September 3 and which also placed a lot of emphasis on digital transformation.
Project head and CARNET deputy director Andrijana Prskalo Maček said that the second phase would cover 1,200 primary and secondary schools. "Our schools were on average at level 2 of digital maturity, that is, in the category of digital beginners, but after 18 months of project implementation, almost all schools are at level 3 or higher in terms of digital maturity. If that is not proof that we have succeeded, I don't know what is," she underlined.
Labour and Pension System Minister Marko Pavić promised the government's support for the next stage of the project.
A large number of workshops was held as part of the project - more than 1,900, as well as e-courses and webinars, with more than 7,000 participants.
All schools covered by the project were equipped with 12,340 computers as well as with a quality network and wireless Internet.
