ZAGREB, 2 Sept 2021 - Civic Education will be introduced in the second semester of this school year as a pilot project and an extracurricular subject, while in 2022 the programme is expected to be introduced in all schools in Zagreb, members of the city's ruling green-left coalition said on Thursday.
The first semester of the new school year will be dedicated to preparations for the project, adoption of the curriculum for the subject, and teacher training. All of that will be tested in selected schools as part of the pilot project in the second semester.
Schools to participate in the pilot project have still not been selected, they have two weeks to respond to the call and state if their pupils, their parents, and teachers are interested in having that extracurricular activity introduced.
The process will be coordinated by a new task force to be appointed by Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević.
The previous city administration adopted a programme for teachers teaching Civic Education but Damir Bakić of the We Can! party said that the programme was inadequate and that it would be improved. Bakić commended the Civic Education curriculum that is implemented in Rijeka, saying that Zagreb intended to copy it.
He also commented on a misunderstanding that ensued after the city department for education said that Civic Education would be introduced at the start of this school year, in line with the programme defined by the previous city government.
Civic Education topic that transcends ideology
"This was not communicated sufficiently clearly and it is possible that some statements were made by the department without sufficient coordination with the city administration," said Bakić.
He dismissed any attempt at turning the introduction of Civic Education in schools into an ideological topic, responding that way to warnings from right-wing parties for parents to be careful about what their children will be learning and to see if We Can! and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which run Zagreb in a coalition, will impose their party ideology on them.
Bakić said that Civic Education was a public good, social value, and a topic that transcended ideology.
Science and Education Minister Radovan Fuchs said on Wednesday that he didn't see any special reason to introduce Civic Education in schools as a separate subject given that it was already taught as a cross-curricular topic.
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