About 443,500 students return to Croatian classrooms as winter holidays change

About 443,500 students are taking their seats in Croatian schools for the 2026-27 academic year, including around 36,300 first-graders. Education Minister Radovan Fuchs used the start of term to urge students to remain curious, brave and persistent, while promising continued investment in school infrastructure, full-day education and student safety.

The Education Ministry expects around 296,500 students in primary schools and 147,000 in secondary schools. A total of 38,735 students enrolled in secondary schools during the summer and autumn admission rounds. Vocational schools attracted 27,331 students, or 70.2 percent, while 10,698 entered grammar schools and 706 enrolled in music and dance schools.

Modular teaching will begin in the first and second years of secondary vocational schools. New vocational qualifications include house maintenance worker, arborist, transport logistics technician, wood and environmental technician, archive technician and intelligent road transport systems technician. More than 2,500 free educational materials have been published for vocational modules, alongside new textbooks for general education subjects.

“

Be curious, brave and persistent.

The experimental full-day school programme will continue in 62 primary schools. Students there will receive free extracurricular and out-of-school activities, teaching materials, field trips and meals. National examinations and the state graduation exam will continue largely unchanged, but fourth-graders in the 62 pilot schools will take national tests for the first time in society and community and natural sciences.

The school year runs from Sept. 7, 2026, to June 15, 2027, ending May 21 for final-year secondary students. Winter break will come in two parts, from Dec. 24 to Jan. 5 and from Feb. 22 to 26, with classes resuming March 1. Spring break runs from March 25 to April 2, and summer break begins June 16. “Be curious, brave and persistent,” Fuchs told students, adding that mistakes form part of learning.

“

Your teachers are with you, listening closely to the pulse of their classes and responding to your needs with warmth and expertise.