Czech amendment to Education Act heads to Senate, would end preparatory classes and limit postponements of enrollment, experts warn against the repercussions of adopting it
Limiting the postponement of compulsory school attendance or closing preparatory classes at primary schools throughout the Czech Republic would be introduced by an amendment to the Education Act that was adopted last week by the Chamber of Deputies, including with votes from the opposition. The bill would also introduce verbal assessments of the educational attainment of pupils in first and second grade instead of numerical ones; it will now be reviewed by the Senate.
The bill would also move the deadline for first-grade enrollments from April back to 15 January-15 February. A co-author of the bill, Pavel Klíma (TOP 09) also pushed for changing the timeframe for enrollment into nursery schools from the first half of May to 15 March-15 April.
Postponement of enrollment into compulsory education, which Klíma says affects 20,000 children per year, would only be permitted in justified cases. It would be possible when the child’s state of health (for instance, a serious mental or physical disability) would make it impossible for them to participate in instruction.
It would only be possible to request postponed enrollment with a recommendation from a medical specialist, such as a clinical psychologist or an oncologist, as well as a recommendation from an educational counseling facility. Pediatricians would no longer be permitted to recommend postponed enrollment.
The Chamber of Deputies narrowly failed to support an amendment by the opposition “Freedom and Direct Democracy” (SPD) party that teachers have the legal right to “use methods, forms, and means at their own discretion in accordance with the principles and goals of education in direct teaching, educational, special-pedagogical, and pedagogical-psychological activities”. That amendment, which according to the SPD is based on the UNESCO International Teachers’ Charter and is supported by the educational community, was supported by the SPD, the opposition Association of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) party, and the majority of the Pirates.
One of the essential prerequisites for children to transfer from nursery school to primary school without any problems is that the nursery school provide information about the child to the primary school, which is part of the bill. The changes to assessing postponements would, according to the bill, begin in September 2025 and would be gradually introduced over the course of three years according to birthdate.
One reason for the gradual introduction of that transformation is the capacity in the primary schools, so their first-grade classes do not become overcrowded with children who postponed and so teachers can sufficiently prepare for the change. Lawmakers prepared the bill in response to experts warning that the number of children who do not start primary school until age seven (i.e., postpone for one year) is excessively high.
The number of such children, according to the Czech School Inspectorate, is among the highest in Europe and has not managed to be reduced. According to Jana Berkovcová (ANO), one-fourth of all first-graders today are seven years old.
The currently high number of postponements for enrollment into first grade negatively impacts the capacity of nursery schools. They could become more accessible to three-year-olds after such postponements are restricted.
However, some experts are expressing serious concerns about limiting postponed enrollments into first grade. Karel Gargulák of the PAQ Research organization warns that without introducing more support measures, serious problems for thousands of children and the entire school system are in danger of arising.
“The danger is that some pupils’ educational failure will increase, and mainly that their failure in life will increase, which has unfathomable consequences not just for the children themselves, but also for our economy and society as a whole,” Gargulák said. According to him, the bill de facto stops postponements and preparatory classes without guaranteeing necessary transformations, such as the financing of teaching assistants.
The numerical assessment of pupils in first and second grade would be replaced with verbal assessments in September 2027 for the first grade and a year later for the second grade, according to the bill. The change, according to Klíma, will aid with the creation of a situation in which the children will not be learning so as to be rewarded with a certain numerical assessment (1-5), but rather so they will acquire knowledge and skills.
At the same time, according to Berkovcová, the change will reduce parents’ concerns that their offspring might fail in school, which is one of the main reasons for postponing their compulsory school attendance. According to the bill, pupils would not be required to repeat first grade and would proceed to second grade irrespective of their results.
Principals would be able to exceptionally permit the repetition of first grade at the guardians’ or parents’ request, but again, a recommendation from a clinical psychologist or physician and a counseling center would be necessary. According to the bill, that adjustment would apply as of September 2026.
Preparatory classes at primary schools would stop in 2029 if the bill passes in the Senate and is signed into law.
