Vrdoljak: HNS Takes Responsibility for Curriculum Reform, ‘Salon Leftists’ Just Talk

The President of the Croatian People’s Party (HNS) Ivan Vrdoljak said on Saturday, commenting on the curriculum reform, that his party takes responsibility unlike the ‘salon leftists’ who, according to him, ‘do not even know how the procedure goes.’

“We invite all other layers to join, help, and get active, not for HNS and votes in the elections but for the children who have been waiting for educational reform for 25 years, and in response to that call some respond, while some want to be radical rightists and have the exact same text as the salon leftists who generally talk and do not take responsibility. We are the ones who take responsibility and deliver results,” Vrdoljak told reporters in Split where he attended the celebration of Creativity and Innovation Day organized by HNS.

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In response to a journalist’s remark that the curriculum reform is circumventing regulations because politics has intervened, Vrdoljak replied that this is not the case. “Salon politicians do not even know how the procedure goes. The expert working group is an advisory body and all decisions are made in the Ministry of Science and Education, and the minister (Blaženka Divjak) knows that,” Vrdoljak said. According to him, the expert working groups (for curriculum reform) were appointed while he was still the Minister of Economy and were activated and created the content.

“Reviews of that content were made partly in HAZU, which is the profession, and not a political decree, while partly in Finland, Sweden, and Germany,” Vrdoljak said.

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It is unprecedented, he says, in Croatian history to ask European professionals and Croatian scientists and academics ‘to revise and review the content created by the expert groups.’ It is excellent because twelve people of different opinions are represented in the ERS, believes the HNS leader.

In the context of the curriculum reform, Vrdoljak also said that the Prime Minister ‘has the right to choose his special advisor.’ ‘I congratulate him on appointing a special advisor for education and thus confirming how important education is to this Government,’ Vrdoljak added.

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Vrdoljak, along with a group of HNS members in Split, released several dozen balloons as a symbolic sign marking Creativity and Innovation Day organized by his party in that city. ‘The goal of this celebration is to draw people’s attention to how creative people are in Croatia. HNS imposed education as the main political topic a year ago, and this perfectly connects with creativity and innovation, especially for those children who are in today’s education system,’ Vrdoljak said. He added that the next step for HNS is to emphasize the importance of utilizing creative potential so that it ‘becomes the largest growing industrial sector in Croatia.’