At the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union Funds, Minister Nataša Tramišak and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Norway to the Republic of Croatia, HE E. Haakon Blankenborg handed over to the CEO of the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNET Hrvoje Puljiz the contract for the “Enhanced Tools for Creating Equal Opportunities in education for Pupils with Disabilities“ project.
The overall value of the Contract is EUR 3.5 million, EUR 3 million of which is a grant from the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area, and EUR 500 thousand is national co-financing.
The project goal is to contribute to creating equal educational opportunities for children with special needs in the Republic of Croatia. CARNET will implement the project with its partner organisations – the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing of the University of Zagreb (FER), the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences of the University of Zagreb (ERF) and the City of Reykjavik – Department of Education and Youth.
It is the first signed Agreement within the Program “Local Development and Poverty Reduction” financed by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism for the period 2014-2021 and managed by the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds.
In the beginning, Minister Tramišak thanked the donors and the entire team who worked hard in previous years to prepare this program and project.
“This project and the support in the inclusion of children with disabilities in the development of systematic education is an intensive project that will be an example of a project within the program Local Development and Poverty Reduction. I believe that it will reach all those in need throughout the Republic of Croatia. Thirty-five centres for the upbringing and education of children with disabilities will receive valuable and quality equipment, focus them on digital skills and will certainly change their perspective on inclusion in the society, and what we have already mentioned, the later acquisition of certain skills in employment”, minister Tramišak emphasized.
The CEO of the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNET, Hrvoje Puljiz, stated that CARNET focuses on development and building capacity of all segments of the education system.
The project “Enhanced Tools for Creating Equal Opportunities in education for Pupils with Disabilities” aims to create equal opportunities for children with disabilities, more successful inclusion in society and the labour market. The project is comprehensive and, in addition to equipping the Centres for Education with digital assistive technologies, includes the education of educational staff and various activities to raise public awareness of the importance of inclusive education for children with special educational needs.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Norway to the Republic of Croatia, HE E. Haakon Blankenborg said that this project is special precisely because it aims at vulnerable members of our society.
„Every person has the potential to learn, regardless of their background. That is why this project aims at all those who need additional help with learning, and our goal is to provide everyone with an equal opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills. This project is part of broad cooperation between Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein with 15 members of the European Union, including Croatia. We are interested in the results that will come out from the project, which thus shows true cooperation of European countries, said the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to the Republic of Croatia“, HE E. Haakon Blankenborg.
