ZAGREB, April 9, 2018 - Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak on Monday declined to comment on speculations that former Education Minister Radovan Fuchs of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party would be the new head of the Expert Task Force for the implementation of the curricular reform, saying that the Expert Task Force was an important advisory body, but it could not be a parallel command line, stressing that she would not allow the obstruction of the entire process.

It seems that controversial Matko Glunčić, who has caused a crisis in the ruling coalition, will be replaced.

ZAGREB, April 7, 2018 - Ivan Vrdoljak, the leader of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), a junior partner in the ruling coalition, said late on Friday evening, after a meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, that the coalition was stable and that in the coming days the prime minister would convene the commission whose task is to appoint the head of the expert task force for the implementation of the education reform.

Despite the conflict between coalition partners over the appointment of the head of curricular reform, the government will not collapse.

ZAGREB, April 7, 2018 - Prime Minister and HDZ party leader Andrej Plenković said on Friday that the selection of the head of the Expert Task Force to implement the curricular reform was not a topic over which to outvote one another, but that rather a solution should be sought that would enable the continuation of the education reform.

HNS says it is ready to leave the government if its demands are not met.

ZAGREB, April 4, 2018 - The leader of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) Milorad Pupovac said on Wednesday it was necessary to have an agreement within the ruling coalition about who would be at the helm of the Expert Task Force for the implementation of curricular reform, saying that no person was worth jeopardising either the coalition or the reform process.

Far more schools than needed have applied for the test phase which starts in autumn.

Croatian People's Party (HNS) leader Ivan Vrdoljak on Saturday called for accelerating the reform processes in the country, saying that this year's priorities were the ratification of the Istanbul Convention and the implementation of the curricular reform.

"All HNS lawmakers will support the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, and as for the reforms, it's time we shifted into fifth gear," Vrdoljak told a press conference in the spa town of Tuheljske Toplice, about 50 kilometres northwest of Zagreb, where the HNS convened to discuss the latest European Commission report on Croatia and define activities the party would undertake to accelerate the reforms.

Vrdoljak recalled that the HNS had unanimously supported the Istanbul Convention in 2015 as a coalition partner in the government of SDP Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, noting that the SDP thought at the time that ratification should be delayed because "the time was not right."

ZAGREB, January 19, 2018 - The European Commission has supported Croatia's efforts to conduct the curriculum reform, and accordingly it has set aside some four million kuna for technical assistance, according to a press release issued by the Croatian Science and Education Ministry.