Minister of Culture Heidy Purga has extraordinarily allocated half a million euros for 2026 to support the cultural education of children and young people.
For 2026, Minister of Culture Heidy Purga has extraordinarily allocated half a million euros to support cooperation between culture and education. With the additional funding, the institutions in the area of administration of the Ministry of Culture will be able to offer schools free cultural visits related to the curriculum in order to continue to support the organisation of field trips.
The Culture Backpack measure will also continue with a total budget of 1.5 million euros, which will be allocated to schools in January this year in the same amount as last year. The Culture Backpack is a measure that is highly valued by both schools and cultural institutions, and over the past four years, it has brought young people to culture who have few or no similar experiences so far.
The Ministry of Education and Research has explained the principles of financing activities related to the completion of the curriculum, but schools, cultural institutions and parents have also raised additional questions about the good practice of donations and the combination of grants. It is based on the principle that the resources necessary for the fulfilment of the curriculum must be provided by the owner of the school. Activities that enrich the curriculum must be equally accessible to all students, which is why it is worth keeping in mind when planning and organising studies:
- Schools are allowed to collect donations, but it must be done in accordance with good practice. (Good Citizen guideline: "Good Practice of Collecting Donations")
- The Culture Backpack is a measure that supports cultural visits related to the curriculum, i.e. conducting formal education in a non-formal learning environment. This means that the field trip is part of regular studies and is mandatory for the student. The school may pay additional to the support allocated within the framework of the measure and/or combine it with other supports, such as project funding or donations, including voluntary donations from parents, making sure that the equal participation of all students is ensured even if the parent or the child's legal representative cannot or does not wish to donate.
- The school also welcomes the integration of entrepreneurial learning initiatives, such as using the proceeds from the sale of students' self-made items to additional funding for field trips and other similar initiatives.
The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Research are of the common opinion that culture plays an important role in pursuing the learning outcomes of the national curriculum of basic schools and enriching formal education, and that children and young people must have equal access to it.