Functional literacy is the capacity of a person to engage in all those activities in which literacy is required for effective function of his or her group and community and also for enabling him or her to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his or her own and the community’s development.

UNESCO, 2021

As Croatia is a still developing country since claiming independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991, its functional illiteracy levels have been slightly increasing. However, this development has only been a result of an already well built basis of education in the country over the past century. Starting under imperial rule of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Croatia crossed a 50 per cent threshold of literacy according to sources from 1910. The Croatian curriculum proved to have national content stressing the cultivation of different identities of its citizens.

The Yugoslavian times

During the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918-1941) after the First World War, each nation state dealt with the literacy levels within it. Out of the three member states, Croatia had the best historical record levels of functional literacy and retained those while the regions of other countries’ showed a decline in them. Furthermore, during the interwar years, the educational apparatus of Yugoslavia did not provide sufficient funding nor means to aid the declining literacy levels throughout the Kingdom.

Later on, during times of the second Yugoslavia (1945-1991), known as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia was in a unique position as in some parts of the country there were two mother tongues being taught in schools. Depending on where a person came from, these were Italian (Istria County), Hungarian (Slavonia County) and Czech (Bjelovar-Bilogora county) in combination with Croato-Serb, the official mother tongue of the Kingdom. Factors that impacted the literacy levels were of the socio-economic category, creating a big rift in education across the country as they impacted the syllabus for every region. Namely these were the region and dialect alongside the economic development connected to the cultural diversity of the region. Because of the uniqueness of Croato-Serb, the language was also taught in a Cyrillic and Roman alphabets.

Time for change

Between 1986 and 1990, the Croatian secondary school system had a reform, right before the country claimed independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991. Instead of a peaceful separation, a 5-year long Homeland war followed which did not put a full halt on education in the country. Because of the creation of war zones, the relocation systems worked closely with families and children which needed to continue their education in another city and made sure they were provided with the adequate one. The people whose education suffered the most were the young men which were called to protect the country. Withal, a study later showed how the unemployment rates of the generation which was 20 years old when the war broke out were minimal in those circumstances, as a majority of the people which fought in the army later continued to make a career out of it.

Furthermore, the functional literacy rates in generations directly affected by the war have been seen as high enough, taking into account the circumstances these people found themselves in and the factors which influenced their lives. Darden & Grzymala-Busse (2006) mention the level of functional literacy in Croatia after claiming independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) as the highest one out of all former member states. Namely, this referred to the level of functional literacy being 70 per cent at the onset of the communist period; retaining a highly schooled population with a steady national content in the schooling curriculum. Moreover, in terms of the Human Development Index, consisting of GDP and unemployment rate, Croatia was found to be the second most developed country of the ex-SFRY member states.

The new country on the map

After claiming independence, Croatia began developing its education system even further than before. In 2001, a study showed how adult illiteracy levels in Croatia was just 2 per cent. Furthermore, 5 per cent of the working population was employed in the education system in 2002, showing how there were sufficient numbers for education to maintain its levels. The government made efforts to ensure and encourage children receive the minimal education of primary and secondary schools by financing textbooks and transportation for those who come from poor socio-economic conditions.

Bujan, Cerović, & Dukić Samaržija (2016) made an empirical assessment of functional literacy in relation to socio-economic factors of the population and found how functional literacy increases with age. In addition, their conclusion reflected upon how the labor market and economic system in Croatia lay on the basis of educational levels, where the government should strive to eliminate the problems of poorer economic situations and indebtedness of individuals in order to further improve it.

The present day

Looking at the evidence above, Croatia has created a stable basis for its education system and high literacy levels across generations. As globalization is a phenomenon we are witnessing today, the government in Croatia is starting to create an e-government system, while educating its population on e-literacy and widening their scope of literacy fields. Furthermore, according to a Eurostat study, the percentage of 15-year-olds underachieving in reading in 2019 was 21.6 per cent in Croatia, while in the EU it was 22.5 per cent, showing how the functional literacy levels in Croatian youth is a bit above the European standard. In conclusion, Croatia has a long way to go in order to achieve even lower illiteracy levels in many fields, and is working on funding and education system reforms in order to achieve them, having a very promising future.