The agreement on cooperation for the implementation of the extracurricular activity Civic Education was signed on Monday in Rijeka between the City of Rijeka and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, and it involves the transfer of experiences in the implementation of Civic Education in Rijeka’s primary schools to other schools founded by the county.
This makes Primorje-Gorski Kotar County the first county in Croatia to implement the Civic Education program as an extracurricular activity, said County Prefect Zlatko Komadina.
>>> Štromar: Varaždin will not wait for national-level curricular reform
Civic Education was experimentally introduced in Rijeka’s primary schools two years ago, in the fifth grades of six schools, and from this year in all schools. A textbook titled “Student Citizen” has been prepared for fifth and sixth-grade students in Croatian and Italian, and a textbook for seventh and eighth-grade students is also being prepared.
The county is the founder of 32 primary schools and will strive to expand the Civic Education program to the remaining schools in the county, which are founded by the cities of Opatija and Crikvenica, he said. Komadina emphasized that Rijeka has shown once again that it is a leader in this initiative and that, while the implementation of curricular reform is expected at the national level, Rijeka is taking action.
He announced that Civic Education will be gradually introduced into county schools, depending on the capabilities of the schools, but also expressed hope that it will be introduced in all 32 schools at the beginning of the next school year.
Values of Society and Civilizational Achievements
Rijeka Mayor Vojko Obersnel stated that this subject teaches about the values of society and civilizational achievements, rather than ideologies that have, as he assessed, been suppressed in Croatia for the last 25 years. “Rijeka decided to introduce this program because the discussion about introducing Civic Education at the national level has been ongoing for too long, and there is no political will to implement it,” he said.
>>> VIDEO: Divjak and Pirnat Dragičević – Burning the Rainbow Family Picture Book is Unacceptable
Civic Education was experimentally introduced in Rijeka’s primary schools two years ago, in the fifth grades of six schools, and from this year in all schools. A textbook titled “Student Citizen” has been prepared for fifth and sixth-grade students in Croatian and Italian, and a textbook for seventh and eighth-grade students is also being prepared.
The City of Rijeka has signed a similar agreement on the transfer of experience in introducing Civic Education with the City of Sisak, and a meeting has been arranged with representatives of Čakovec and Istria County, said Obersnel, expressing hope that this way the implementation of the program will expand throughout the country.
