On Friday, July 15, 2016, a signing ceremony for the Grant Contract for the Implementation of the Project "e-Schools: Establishing a System for Developing Digitally Mature Schools (Pilot Project)" was held at the premises of the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNet. The total contract value exceeds 200 million kuna (HRK 227,870,763.02), 85% of which is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the remaining 15% is covered by national co-financing. The grant is intended for providing ICT infrastructure and equipment to schools, as well as providing various e-services through which the teaching, business, and administrative processes in schools will be made more efficient and transparent.
The Contract was signed by the Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds Tomislav Tolušić, the Director of the Central Finance and Contracting Agency Tomislav Petric, and the CEO of the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNet Zvonimir Stanić.
“The introduction of modern technology in schools is the best proof that “land of knowledge” is not just a slogan in Croatia, but the future of our country. By investing in education, we will build the capacities of the educational system and increase the number of young educated people provided with the opportunity of actively joining the labor market, Minister Tolušić said.
Tomislav Petric, Director of the CFCA, congratulated the project beneficiaries and pointed out that “there were no ineligible costs in the project application, which confirms that this is a high-quality beneficiary and a well-prepared project. I believe, therefore, that the implementation of the entire project will be successful.”.
CARNet Chief Executive Officer Zvonimir Stanić pointed out that, since 2012, all CARNet employees have been doing successful and arduous work on the e-Schools project, whether regarding its planning or its current realization phase. “The progress which we have instigated and noticed cannot be expressed with words – the schools are becoming increasingly faster and more adept at integrating and adopting technology in their teaching processes and business activities, thus slowly becoming places which the students walk out of computer-literate, educated, able to think for themselves and be good team players. This is, above all, to the credit of the teachers and principals with whom we have, over the years, established a great cooperation, and the e-Schools project is a result of this positive synergy,” CEO Stanić pointed out.
The e-Schools pilot project, scheduled to run from 2015 to 2018, is a component of the broader “e-Schools: Comprehensive Informatization of School Business and Teaching Processes to Foster Digitally Mature Schools for the 21st Century’ program, which will be implemented from 2015 to 2022. This project aims to equip schools with modern teaching and learning technologies, while also promoting efficiency and transparency in administrative operations through the digitalization of school business and administrative processes. All 150 participating schools, comprising 100 elementary and 50 secondary schools (high schools and vocational schools), will receive the latest technology. Additionally, both teaching and non-teaching staff will undergo training to effectively utilize the provided technology and the digital content developed as part of the project.
As a reminder, both project phases are mostly (85 %) financed from the European Structural Funds. Considering the specific quality of the e-Schools – Improving the Digital Maturity of Schools project goal, for implementation-related reasons, its implementation is divided into two strategic projects financed and implemented through two different operational programs. Project A, which is mostly infrastructure- and service-oriented, is financed from the Competitiveness and Cohesion Operational Programme (CC OP) of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and its purpose is to enable the optimal use of the content, education, and support provided by Project B, through the use of sophisticated ICT equipment adapted to the needs of the Croatian educational system, as well as through the provision of different e-services, by means of which the teaching, business and administrative processes in schools will be made more efficient and transparent. Project B, as the content-bearing part of the e-Schools project, is financed from the Efficient Human Resources Operational Programme (EHR OP) of the European Social Fund (ESF), the implementation of which was enabled by a 78-million-kuna grant, with the Contract having already been signed on December 22, 2015. Project B focuses on the development of frameworks (for digital maturity and digital competencies) and strategic documents (the draft Digital Maturity Strategy), and on providing education and support for teaching and non-teaching staff, as well as developing digital educational content and accompanying activities. Without Project B, there would be no need for Project A.
Project implementation is the responsibility of the beneficiary institution, the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNet. Its partners are the Education and Teacher Training Agency and the Agency for Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education, based on their roles in the educational system defined by law, and the Faculty of Organization and Informatics in Varaždin. The latter was selected through a public call as the institution with relevant expertise in the field of information science and e-learning for the implementation of parts of the project.
More information about the project “e-Schools: Establishing a System for Developing Digitally Mature Schools (Pilot Project)” is available at the following web address: http://www.carnet.hr/e-skole.
Projekt je sufinancirala Europska unija iz europskih strukturnih i investicijskih fondova.