Successful examples of scaling up teaching and learning in response to

Croatia: How investing in information technology and digital competencies of students and teachers paid off during the pandemic

DIEGO AMBASZ | LUCIA BRAJKOVIC | MAY 26, 2020

Children walk through Zagreb city square.

When coronavirus (COVID-19) first appeared in Croatia on February 25, the country responded swiftly, introducing measures such as travel and public assembly bans, restriction of working hours of grocery stores, closing of non-essential services, and canceling sporting and cultural events. In order to ensure transparency and provide support to its citizens the Government set up a website koronavirus.hr with detailed instructions on public safety, daily updates on the spread of infection, and the implementation of economic measures. It seems that stringent measures introduced by the Civil Protection Directorate, early detection of spread routes, and extensive media coverage have contributed to successful containment of the pandemic in the country. Among the early measures introduced by the authorities was also the school closure - first in the region of Istria, which is very close to Italy –and soon after nationwide. Even though such disruption in the education process has not been easy for students, parents, and teachers in Croatia, the country’s education system has been very well placed to deal with this situation.

Digitalization of schools and curricular reform created conditions for easier transition to distance learning (DL)

In 2015, Croatia launched the pilot of the e-Schools project, providing digital equipment and support tools to 150 schools. The pilot was followed by a nation-wide roll-out that will encompass all schools by 2022. Next, in September 2018 the Ministry of Science and Education (MSE) started the pilot project