The town of Pregrada took over the building and playground of the Stipernica branch school from Osnovna škola Janka Leskovara on Tuesday, returning the property to municipal ownership. The school in Stipernica will cease operations at the end of the 2025/2026 academic year as there are no enrolled children, and the town plans to open a new branch of a kindergarten in the vacant building.
The agreement on the transfer of ownership was signed prior to the official handover of the property. The director of OŠ Janka Leskovara, Zdravka Žiger, handed over the building to the mayor, Goran Vukmanić.
The reason for the conversion is a shortage of places in the existing 'Naša radost' kindergarten: the inspectorate found that the institution had 30 more children enrolled than permitted by regulations, which is why the kindergarten had to adjust the number of enrolled children. By converting the building in Stipernica, the town aims to resolve this capacity shortage.
'The aim is for the kindergarten to operate in Stipernica from the autumn,' the mayor said.
The town is planning renovation works to adapt the space for the youngest, with the aim that the new kindergarten branch will begin operations in the autumn.
