"Croatia can do better" was the message of the demonstrators in Zagreb on June 1, in support of the long-overdue education reforms and the expert group leading the design of the reforms for the last 14 months.

The reforms, the first phase of which is set to be implemented in September 2016, were put into question when the new right-wing government slashed funding for the Ministry of Education in March, and members of parliament began inserting their wish list of ideologically based items, such as increasing the amount of religion and nationalism in the curriculum.

The protest on June 1 in Zagreb was sparked when the expert group of technocrats leading the reform withdrew from the process as a result of government obstruction and interference, sparking public outrage and support for the expert group to be allowed the independence and freedom to continue the process they had begun.

In addition to Zagreb, protests also took place in 12 other Croatian cities and 10 cities around the world.

The initiative "Croatia can do better" requested:

1. The freedom of educators to complete the work of the comprehensive curricular reform without pressure or ideological censorship;
2. that Parliament unanimously adopt the Conclusions on the support of this reform and the model designed by the expert group, and reject the conclusions of the Parliamentary Committee for Education;
3. that Parliament adopt a resolution declaring education a national strategic interest, and thus oblige the current and subsequent governments to follow through with national plans for education;
4. that the government and Minister of Education Predrag Šustar provide the financing and autonomy to implement the education reforms.

Photo: Nina Đurđević

You can see a gallery of the protest here.