ZAGREB, October 2, 2018 - Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak on Tuesday rejected claims that the contents of report cards were changed because of the Istanbul Convention, saying that this was an "ugly lie," and underscored that report cards were changed long before the Istanbul Convention was ratified, during the term of minister Pavo Barišić when the state-secretary was Hrvoje Slezak, who was a member of the presidency of the HRAST party.
Divjak reacted to claims by HRAST member Kristina Pavlović on Monday night in a current affairs programme on the national broadcaster HRT, that "report cards that students get at the end of the school year in June no longer note their sex or their parents' names."
Stressing that this was "an ugly lie," Minister Divjak recalled in a press release that "long before the Istanbul Convention was ratified, the decision to change the contents of report cards was adopted on 17 May 2017," with a ministry regulation during the term of former minister Pavo Barišić while the relevant state-secretary at the time was Hrvoje Slezak in fact, who is member of the HRAST party, she said.
"I appeal to the entire public, the academic community and in particular the media to clearly call out all those interest groups who deliberately use public discourse for absolutely incorrect information and systematically spread false news, because unfortunately that practice is fairly common these days."
Divjak succeeded Barišić in the ministerial post on 9 June 2017.
