The 2022-23 academic year starts on Monday for more than 460,000 students in the country's primary and secondary schooling system, state agency Hina said. This will also be the first year starting without any coronavirus rules, unlike the previous two years which were "marked by Covid-19 protocols," they added.

Croatia’s education ministry said that some 310,000 pupils will attend elementary schools this year. The eight-year school, usually started at age six or seven, is compulsory in Croatia.  Another 154,400 students will attend secondary education schools.

This means that pupils and students make up close to 12 percent of Croatia’s 3.88 million population.

These figures include some 36,000 children enrolled in the first grade of elementary school, down by about a thousand from last year. When it comes to secondary education, there will be 39,070 first-year students this year, while in the last school year 38,251 students enrolled in the first grade.

Croatia is also providing schooling for Ukrainian refugees. This year a total of 1,331 Ukrainian children will attend primary education, and an another 143 will be in secondary schools.

This school years is scheduled to end on 21 June 2023, and on 26 May for secondary school seniors.