Education

School attendance is compulsory from the age of 6 till 15. Schools are mainly state schools but there are also some private and church schools. Attendance at state schools is free of charge, and provides the same kind of education with the possibility of enrolling at universities. Handicapped children are educated separately. School fees in private schools range from 5,000 to 12,000 crowns a year.

Pre-school education begins at the age of 6 months when children may attend crèches until the age of three. From the age of 3 till the age of 6 children attend kindergartens. Still, it is common for mothers to stay at home with them till children’s scho­ol age.

Primary education starts at basic schools and lasts 9 years. Children receive an education foundation: writing, counting and reading skills, Czech language and literature, basics in physics, biology, civics etc.

Secondary education lasts usually 4 years – from the age of 15 or till the age of 19. Secondary education may be divided among:

• secondary grammar schools
• secondary special schools (technical schools, schools of economics, agriculture schools, music schools, schools for health workers etc.
• vocational schools which prepare young people for practical professions.

Tertiary education starts at the age of 19 and lasts usually from 4 to 6 years. Students may attend various universities or colleges (Medical Faculty, School of Economics, Law Faculty etc.). For those who do not want to enter the university there are various types of two-year training courses for opticians, managers, social workers, au-pairs etc.

Students end their secondary education after passing their graduation exam, which consists of two parts: written part (around April – students have to pass exam in Czech language, accounting and computers) and oral part (around May) in Czech language and literature, accounting, economics, and a foreign language or mathematics.

Subjects taught at Czech schools are as follows: Czech, foreign language (English, German, French, Russian, Spanish), geography, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry music, fine arts, labs, civics, physical education. Additional subjects taught at special secondary schools are e.g. economics, typing, lab work, workshop, accounting, electronics etc.

Students are evaluated by marks from 1 to 5. 1 is the best and 5 is the worst. Each term a student gets his school reports with marks from both compulsory and elective subjects. “Business academy” is a secondary school, which prepares students for university studies or job like an accountant, work in banks, etc. In our school there are about 19 classes with around 500 students.

Our school consists of 2 buildings – one is new and the other is old one. Enter is in the new building. On the ground floor of this building we can find student’s clo­akrooms, caretaker’s flat and his workshop and a gym, on the first floor there are classrooms, our director’s office, a deputies´ office, and on the second floor there are classrooms, and teacher offices. In the old building, which has 2 floors, there are classrooms and teachers offices. In your school we can find also two computer labs, language labs, and other differently equipped labs.

The main subjects taught in our school are: Czech language and literature, foreign languages, maths, computers, typing, economics, and accounting etc. Among after-school activities belong: Volleyball Team, sport’s games and Internet.

Studying foreign languages is important for everybody. We need them for travelling abroad, for reading foreign materials (books, newspapers), for preparing to further studies, for cultural reasons (watching films, visiting concerts, understanding song’s lyrics et­c.).

Besides schools there are various ways to study them, we can visit language courses. There are also some TV courses, many textbooks and cassettes from abroad. In bigger cities e can take lessons from a private teacher.