Social Democrats MP Ivana Posavec-Krivec said on Wednesday that the education reform of the HDZ-led government had drastically reduced national history education in vocational schools, describing this is a continuation of the long-lasting process of marginalisation of social sciences.

Vocational school students account for 70% of some 130,000 high school students, and the new education reform envisages that instead of having history classes for two or three years, as is now the case, they will have them for one year only, she said.

“The reduced number of history classes is aimed at eliminating critical thinking, and one gets the impression that our government considers those young people second-class students to whom national issues and everything that should make them complete human beings are not important,” she told a news conference in the parliament.

Together with Bruno Šagi, president of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) Student Organisation, she expressed support to all history teachers who have criticised the reform of vocational education.

“It’s not enough to study national history from the 18th century to the present without general history, without knowing the circumstances Croatia was in at the time in Europe and the world. That is also not good for understanding Croatia’s current political position in the world,” Posavec-Krivec said.

Surveys have shown that students who complete courses of that kind think less about social circumstances, have more difficulty understanding current politics and are the least acquainted with their civic rights, she said, wondering what the reform would bring for history teachers and if two-thirds of them would be laid off.

On SDP’s refusal of an election coalition

Posavec-Krivec also commented on SDP leader Pedja Grbin’s having refused the formation of a left-wing coalition ahead of the parliamentary elections, saying that only a united left could provide opposition to the ruling structures led by the HDZ.

“We are interested in the left uniting as much as possible and being an alternative to the HDZ,” she said.