Rumours about the possible disappearance of small independent schools have been gathering pace as Parliament deliberates changes in standards that could require schools with fewer than 150 students to join larger institutions.According to the Ministry of Education, there are 143 such schools in Croatia, the effective closure of which would see directors, accountants and secretaries losing their jobs, the Croatian daily Vecernji List writes.Three of the largest school unions have now come out against the idea. Zeljko Stipic, president of Preporod said such a decision would clearly be the work of someone who has no understanding of how schools function or what they mean for local communities.The chief of the Association of Primary School Directors Nikica Mihaljevic said that while he supports some schools becoming part of larger ones, the changes should not be radical."We are against that because schools and teachers can mean a lot to small communities," he said, adding that this could further contribute to demographic imbalance.While the deadline for the elimination of small schools if implemented would not be until 2017 the unions fear that the changes could happen overnight, given the current state of the budget.
Source: Croatian Times Online News
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