THE accreditation of Croatian as a VCE subject is in jeopardy if nationally the number of students is not increased warns the president of the Association of Croatian Teachers of Victoria.
A longtime Croatian language teacher and community leader, the Association’s president Katica Perinac believes that one of the biggest challenges faced by all Croatian language centres is the shortage of teachers, along with the fact that many second-generation parents have different priorities and may not want to enrol their children in Croatian language schools.
“Last year, for example, the Geelong faculty of the Victorian Schools’ of Language (VSL) centres didn’t have a permanent teacher for Years 6-8,” explained Perinac, who resides in Geelong and best understands the local community’s predicament.
“In 2025, across all of Victoria, we have just eight students enrolled in Year 12 Croatian. And for the first time in many years, there are no Year 12 students at the Geelong centre,” she revealed.
Perinac cited the recent COVID pandemic as having played a major role in the dwindling numbers.
“COVID halted the enrolments a few years back. Since then, the total number of enrolments have slowly recovered, but never to the level they were pre-pandemic,” she said.
“Added to that, this year the VSL introduced enrolments on the new platform Compass and it has been a total disaster.”
Perinac claims that parents have not been able to enrol their children due to the complexities of the new platform.
“As a result, we think that a lot of the parents have just given up,” she lamented.
“I know for a fact, Geelong’s numbers have dropped drastically and I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the case across the board.”
According to the head of the Association of Croatian Teachers of Victoria, the short to medium term future of the Croatian language program in Victoria is assured because of a combination of support from the local Croatian community and funding from the government of the Republic of Croatia.
“I believe that VCE accreditation should be secure for at least the next three to six years,” Perinac said.
Long term, however, there is no guarantee.
“Victoria has carried NSW and South Australia since 2003, due to our numbers being high in VCE classes. Now our numbers are very low and we are now in a position where we are being carried by the other states,” warned Perinac.
RELATED ARTICLE – To read about the Awards ceremony for the most successful Croatian language graduates (VCE) in Victoria for last year, click on the following link: https://vjesnik.com.au/2025/04/awards-ceremony-for-the-most-successful-croatian-language-graduates-vce/