President Milanović receives “Vjetar u leđa“leadership, Association that
Carries Out Programmes for Gifted Children

On the occasion 21 March International Day of Gifted Pupils, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović met today with the leadership of the “Vjetar u leđa” Association that has been working with gifted children for more than ten years. Attending the meeting were Association president Siniša Beneković and vice president Ksenija Ranogajec Benaković.

The work of the Association was presented to President Milanović, and discussion focused on the problems and challenges faced by gifted children and their parents in the education system. The goal of the Association is to help teachers recognize gifted children and their needs and provide educational conditions for them not to give up on their giftedness and potential, Mrs. Ranogajec Benaković stated.

Although the needs of gifted children are not sufficiently recognized in Croatia, there some progress has been noted with the adoption of educational guidelines for working with gifted children. Further progress is expected after the adoption of regulations that are currently being drafted.

“Vjetar u leđa” Association was founded in 2012 and, for the eleventh year, has been implementing a Programme designed for potentially gifted children “Iskrice”, which was certified by the Ministry of Science and Education and the Agency. This programme is intended for children between the ages of 4 and 18 years. They added that the Association was proclaimed “European Talent Point” in 2016, thereby joining the European network of organizations that work with gifted children.

Association representatives noted that there are around 45,000 gifted pupils in elementary and secondary schools, and around 13,000 potentially gifted children in preschool institutions. Identifying giftedness in children is carried out by a team for gifted children, including a psychologist who is an essential member. In this sense, they underlined that every day care centre employs a psychologist, but that elementary and secondary schools lack psychologists.

They pointed out the problem of insufficient funding for the identification of gifted children in schools underlining that, as a rule, educators and teachers have not received training for recognizing giftedness and adapting school programmes for gifted pupils. Systematic and quality training of quality education professionals is necessary.

Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka Žarković.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek