1. Background of minorities in schools Croatian policy on national minorities is based on democratic values developed in relevant United Nations’ instruments for human rights protection which Croatia has ratified, such as the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. Furthermore, Croatia ratified all the conventions and recommendations of the Council of Europe addressing human rights and has concluded bilateral agreements on protection of national minorities with neighbouring countries. In addition it has put in place a number of relevant legislative provisions, such as the Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities (CLNM), the Law on the Use of Language and Script of National Minorities and the Law on the Education in the Language and Script of National Minorities. The term of national minority is defined in the Article 5 of the Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities. According to that provision, a national minority is a group of Croatian citizens whose members have traditionally inhabited the territory of the Republic of Croatia and whose members have ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and/or religious characteristics that are different from those of other citizens and who wish to preserve these characteristics. The CLNM sets the domestic legal framework for minority rights in Croatia. The national minorities are guaranteed the right of having up to eight representatives in the Parliament, and to be reserved seats on a proportional basis at local government level. The census and any recent electoral registers are used to calculate this allocation. Additionally, the CLNM establishes Councils of National Minorities at local, regional and state level as consultative bodies that provide opinions and proposals on relevant minority issues. According to the last census in 2001 the population of Croatia is 4.437.460 inhabitants. Taking into account the mentioned definition of a national minority, the Croatian society encompasses as it follows: Croats - 3.977.171 (89,63%); Albanians – 15.082 (0,34%); Austrians – 247 (0,01%); Bosniacs 20.755 – 0,47%); Bulgarians – 331 (0.01); Czechs – 10.510 (0,24%); Germans – 2.902 (0,07); Hungarians – 16.596 (0,37%); Italians – 19.636 (0,44%); Jews – 576 (0,01%); Macedonians 4.270 (0,10%); Montenegrins – 4.926 (0,11%); Poles – 567 (0,01%); Roma – 9.463 (0,21%); Romanians – 475 (0,01%); Russians – 906 (0,02%); Ruthenians – 2.337 (0,05); Slovaks – 4.712 (0,11%); Slovenians – 13.173 (0,30%); Serbs – 201.631 (4,54%); Turks – 300 (0,01%); Ukrainians – 1.977 (0,04%); Wlachs – 12 (0,00%); others /related to the listing/ - 21.801 (0,49%); undeclared according to the definition – 89.130 (2,01%); unknown – 17.975 (0,41%). 2. Provisions in schools The national strategy for the area of education entitled the Education Sector Development Plan 2005-2010 was adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia in 2005. Within the key priorities in educational development, the national minorities are stated as target group that will be offered the specific educational programs and implemented following the standards of efficiency and quality in education. The persons belonging to national minority can exercise their constitutional right through three basic models and forms of education:  model A – overall education in the language and script of a national minority with obvious Croatian language learning;