The SIDRO Association warned that the proposed amendments to the Act do not solve key problems such as lack of staff and overcrowding of kindergartens, while the Ministry says that their role is supervision, and that compliance with the State Pedagogical Standard is the obligation of the founders and owners of kindergartens, writes HRT.
The SIDRO association of kindergarten educators in the protection of children's rights announced on Friday that the proposed amendments to the Preschool Education Act do not address the shortage of staff and overcrowding in kindergartens, and that the Government has not adopted a clear model for financing employee salaries.
The Association considers the changes in the Law, which is in public consultation until August 29, to be "decorative" and because it does not address the problem of non-compliance with the State Pedagogical Standard and uneven funding.
In a statement, the Association points out that in March 2025, it submitted a proposal to the Government and Ministry requesting that the state cover the cost of employee salaries, which make up 71 percent of total kindergarten costs. This, they say, would "ensure equality for every child, reduce regional differences, and relieve the burden on local government units."
The Association also claims that the Government bases the changes on a series of incorrect data, such as the data on the assessment of the situation, i.e. the number of children enrolled, the number of kindergartens and places in them. According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, in the 2024/2025 academic year, 157.365 children were enrolled in kindergartens, which is only about 62 percent of the total number of preschool children. The CBS reports from July 2024 and July 2025 show an increase in the number of children in kindergartens of 4153, while the Government states an increase of 10.265 children.
There is a shortage of almost 7000 professional educators.
Sidor warns that the system lacks almost 7000 professional educators, and up to 40 percent of employees are unprofessional replacements, which seriously jeopardizes the quality of work, they say.
They add that the change in the categories of children who have the right to priority enrollment will not create more places in kindergartens. The changes abolish the provision on priority enrollment for four-year-olds, and introduce two new categories of children with the right to priority - children of recipients of compensation for unemployed veterans of the Homeland War and children of parents of civilians killed in the Homeland War.
'By law, anyone can be employed as a preschool teacher'
They point out that the (now repealed) provision on priority enrollment for four-year-olds has caused a number of problems in practice, even illegal enrollment of children, and that now enrollment of four-year-olds has already begun in Slavonski Brod because "there are no more places for them."
Furthermore, they say that hiring primary school teachers may be able to fill some of the vacant positions for preschool teachers, but it will impair the quality of work. They point out that the Government leaves a provision in the Act according to which anyone can be hired for preschool teacher positions: not only teachers, but also hairdressers, beauticians, economists, traders and others, if no person with the appropriate education (study of early and preschool education) applies for the vacancy.
They see the clearer definition of the outcomes of teacher education as a positive aspect, as teachers who will only acquire competences for working with early and preschool children upon completion of the short program, instead of the promised qualification of a preschool teacher, which can only be obtained upon completion of the Early and Preschool Education degree. However, they raise the question of what will happen to the programs implemented at higher education institutions under the name "Program for retraining or additional training of teachers for the purpose of acquiring the qualification of a preschool teacher", which are financed from EU funds and guarantee teachers a certificate of qualification as a preschool teacher.
- This misleads teachers who have completed or are about to complete these programs, because the qualification that they will acquire through these programs does not actually exist, nor is it foreseen and recognized by the Law, it is noted in the press release.
The Sidro Association, in collaboration with the Initiative of Masters of Vocational Education and Training (RPOO) founded in early 2025, proposes a comprehensive reform, which will regulate the status of experts of the VI and VII levels of education, and is ready to "offer assistance to the Ministry in order to create an efficient, fair and meaningful system for the benefit of children and all employees", the Association says.
MZOM: Compliance with pedagogical standards is the task of kindergarten owners
The Ministry of Science and Education (MZOM) said on Friday that their task is to supervise, and that the State Pedagogical Standard must be respected by the founders and owners of kindergartens, thus responding to a call from the SIDRO Association regarding changes to the Law on Preschool Education.
- We emphasize that the founders and owners of kindergartens should fully respect the State Pedagogical Standard of Preschool Education, guarantee the safety of every child in kindergarten, and ensure the best possible conditions in kindergartens so that educators can carry out their educational work. The role of the Ministry, or rather the educational inspectorate, is to monitor compliance with regulations in preschool institutions, the Ministry announced.
Namely, SIDRO claims that the proposed amendments to the Law on Preschool Education do not respond to the problem of non-compliance with the State Pedagogical Standard and uneven funding.
- If non-compliance with pedagogical standards is determined in the inspection, fines of up to 1990,84 euros for the kindergarten, or up to 1061,78 euros for the director of the kindergarten, are set. Kindergartens are fully financed from the budgets of cities and municipalities, so these fines are indirectly paid by the owners of the kindergartens, i.e. the founding cities and municipalities, the relevant ministry says.
He also claims that so far, it has paid out 147 million euros to cities and municipalities through the kindergarten fiscal sustainability model, and that the state has completely waived income tax and left it to local and regional self-government units, which allocate 1.9 percent for primary education, 1.3 percent for secondary education, 0,8 percent for social welfare, and one percent each for healthcare and firefighting.
- Therefore, the remaining part of income tax revenues (more than 90 percent), as well as other source revenues, local and regional self-government units, among other things, can and have certainly earmarked for financing early and preschool education, or kindergartens, the Ministry believes.
Maximum quotas increased at faculties that educate preschool teachers
Regarding the allegations of the SIDRO Association about the shortage of preschool teachers and unprofessional replacements, the Ministry claims that the Law provides that primary school teachers who "are becoming increasingly redundant due to the decreasing number of children" can also be employed.
In addition, it is added, "quotas at faculties that educate preschool teachers have been increased to the maximum, so that in 2023 more than 1100 of them graduated from various graduate and undergraduate studies."
The Ministry states that a teacher can perform the duties of an educator, provided that they complete a "program for acquiring the qualification of an educator", but that "by completing the aforementioned program, the teacher does not acquire the qualification of an educator, but rather educational competencies for working with early and preschool children, and amendments to the law are necessary in this regard."
In response to the comments of the SIDRO Association, which states that due to the abolition of the provision on the priority of enrollment of four-year-olds, "children have started to be expelled from kindergartens in Slavonski Brod", the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs claims that this provision "has not even been implemented", and that "not a single child from any kindergarten has been expelled from kindergarten due to legal provisions, nor will that ever happen".
Source: HRT
Photo: Pixabay
