ZAGREB, September 3, 2018 - A new school year is beginning on Monday for 472,000 elementary and secondary school students during which over 8,000 of them will be included in the School for Life experimental programme being launched in 48 elementary and 26 secondary schools.
A total of 320,000 elementary school pupils are enrolled in the 2018-19 school year, including over 39,000 first graders, as well as some 152,000 secondary school students.
According to the Science and Education Ministry, there are about 38,000 freshmen, of which 11,000 enrolled in comprehensive schools and 27,000 in vocational secondary schools.
The ratio of comprehensive and vocational secondary school students is approximately the same as last year, although this year there is a mildly higher interest in vocational professions, notably in shortage occupations in Tourism and Hospitality (waiters and cooks); Geology, Mining, Oil and Chemical Technology; Graphic Technologies and Audio-visual Solutions; Transport and Logistics; and Forestry and Wood Processing.
