The government on Wednesday adopted a national plan for the development of the education system until 2027 which defines the implementation of the strategic goals and priorities in public education policies from the 2030 National Development Strategy.

Those priorities are access to pre-school education, acquiring and developing basic and vocational competencies, advancing higher education, and an aligned and promising labour market, Science and Education Minister Radovan Fuchs said at a cabinet session.

The government also adopted an implementation action plan until 2024 which, together with the national plan, is a requirement for ensuring co-financing from European structural and investment funds.

Just over €2.1 billion is envisaged for the implementation of the national plan and just over €758 million for the action plan.

The government also adopted a national programme to encourage reading from the earliest age, as envisaged by a national strategy to encourage reading adopted in 2017. The programme, called “Born to Read,” will be implemented by the Ministry of Culture and Media in cooperation with the Health Ministry.

During four medical examinations conducted from the age of six months to starting school, paediatricians would read picture books to children which they would give as a gift after each checkup so that their parents or guardians could continue to read to them in a family environment.

An average of 36,000 children are born in Croatia annually and we, in agreement with the Health Ministry, printed picture books which will be delivered to 249 pediatric practices in Croatia, Culture Minister Nina Obuljen-Korzinek said.

A similar programme is being implemented in many countries and the results over the years are better psychomotor development and better results at PISA tests, which is why investing in the early encouragement to reading is immensely important, she added.

The implementation of the programme will cost just over €265,000 a year.