Croatia plans to provide a kindergarten place for every child by the end of the decade, in what has been presented as part of a broader and ambitious reform of the country’s education infrastructure. The announcement was made by the Croatian Minister of Science, Education, and Youth, Radovan Fuchs, who said the plan is designed to improve standards for the youngest children and make the education process easier for families.
A central part of the reform is the expansion of kindergarten capacity over seven years. Croatia intends to create around 40,000 new kindergarten places, with the project primarily aimed at ensuring access for all children between the ages of three and six. The financing structure is divided between two major sources:
A total of 22,500 places will be funded through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, backed by a budget of more than €218 million, while another 17,500 places will be secured through European funds from the current programming period.
At the same time, the government is moving forward with the modernization of the school system, with a particular focus on shifting schools to a single-shift model. According to Minister Fuchs, the goal is for 91 percent of schools to operate in one shift by the 2029/2030 school year. This transition is expected to cover around 82 percent of all students in the country. At present, less than 50 percent of students attend single-shift classes, which underlines the scale of the planned change.
The biggest challenge in implementing this model remains the capital, Zagreb, where a large share of the country’s student population is concentrated. This makes the transition more demanding in terms of space, planning and infrastructure capacity.
To support the reform, Croatia has earmarked a total of €1.9 billion for the construction of new schools and the modernization of existing educational facilities. The government has already begun implementing this part of the plan, signing contracts worth €150 million to construct new buildings across the country.
According to State Secretary Stipe Mamić, these reforms are essential for aligning Croatia’s education system with European standards and improving the quality of life for families. Taken together, the expansion of kindergarten access, the move toward single-shift schooling, and the large-scale investment in school infrastructure form the core of Croatia’s long-term strategy to reshape and strengthen its education system.
