Why were some children left behind?

On May 19th 2020 the GOOD initiative consisting of more then 60 organizations working in education in Croatia wrote an open letter to the Government regarding the response of the Ministry of Science and Education to the Covid-19 epidemic in Croatia.

Here is a translated part of the open letter:

Nine full weeks after the start of distance learning, the most vulnerable groups of children are completely or partially excluded from the educational process, thus violating their human right to education. The Ministry of Science and Education is not responding to inquiries from the GOOD initiative and other organizations and initiatives that in recent weeks have warned of discrimination against Roma, Serb, refugee and other children of non-dominant ethnic origin and whose mother tongue is not Croatian.

In addition, students and families living in poverty or at risk of poverty, as well as other children belonging to marginalized and vulnerable groups, have lost various forms of help and support they otherwise received through the school system such as free meals due to school closures, psychological support, learning support/mentoring etc. Therefore, the GOOD initiative, organization Are You Syrious, the Roma Youth Organization and the Serbian National Council decided to file a complaint to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child for violation of the right to access education and discrimination against children whose mother tongue is not Croatian.

The complete letter in Croatian is available here.