Science and Education Minister Radovan Fuchs said on Tuesday that the ministry's budget for 2021 would be slightly larger and that teachers' salaries would not be reduced, adding that the issue of back pay from the previous year was a matter for broader discussion.

He made the statement in an interview with the N1 television channel.

Asked whether it was time for longer-term changes in the science sector, Fuchs said that two documents were being finalised – a national development strategy and documents necessary for the activation of EU recovery funds.

He said that the ministry had prepared very ambitious programmes that included reform processes that required money as well as programmes that included direct investment, such as construction of schools and sports halls.

The minister recalled that about 40 percent of schools in Croatia still operated in two shifts and that the ministry’s idea was for all schools to operate in one shift to allow for day-long classes and extended stay in school. He noted that this was connected with broader reform processes in the education sector.

Speaking of the situation in schools in light of a growing number of coronavirus cases among students, Fuchs reiterated that the share of infected students was still below 0.2 percent at the national level. He said he was aware that the situation in Zagreb was worse than elsewhere in the country, but did not specify the number of infected students, saying that the situation was changing by the day.

As for a possible complete transfer to online classes, the minister said that this would happen if the national coronavirus response team decided so for the whole country.