Czech Govt Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs says new education programs are an historic move, bringing Romani subject matter to the schools with Roma participation in the design

Czech Education Minister Mikuláš Bek has presented the new Framework Education Programs (RVPs) for nursery and primary schools which are supposed to strengthen the connection between knowledge and skills and focus on reducing inequality in the Czech education system. For the first time ever, institutions focused on supporting the Romani minority have significantly contributed to the design of the programs.

Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková said the move was an historical breakthrough. “I consider it a great breakthrough that together we have managed to join the process of preparing the Framework Education Programs. We arranged for Roma-related subject matter, material on the mutual coexistence of the majority society with minorities, on equalizing access to education, and on breaking down barriers in society to be kept in mind in the general part of the programs as well,” Fuková said, adding that she contributed to the design of the new RVPs together with the Committee on Roma Education of the Czech Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs, the Museum of Romani Culture, Charles University’s Romani Studies Seminar at the Faculty of Arts, and other institutions.

“This is the result of our common hard work over a long period of time and I am genuinely proud of it. It is also quite a significant step toward combating antigypsyism,” Fuková said.

The new education programs, which the Education Ministry has spent several years preparing, should be compulsory as of 2027 for first through sixth grade and then for all levels of schooling as of 2031. Schools could have started this September to teach according to the revised plan on a voluntary basis, however.

Czech Education Minister Mikuláš Bek (Mayors and Independents – STAN) presented the new RVPs to journalists. He said schools have great freedom in how to specifically reflect the general instructional plans put forward by the state in their teaching.

The ministry provides schools with the necessary conditions and support for this and will soon present model school educational programs, Bek said. According to him, the designed transformations are also supposed to reduce barriers to accessing the Czech education system and inequality within it.

One component of the new RVP is the compulsory teaching of English from first grade and the introduction of another foreign language in seventh grade. Russian will not be offered as the second foreign language, only French, German or Spanish.

The revision of the RVP will also introduce testing at what are called educational nodal points to assess educational results. Basic literacy will now be verified in third grade, fifth grade and ninth grade.

“That will ensure that the state, the schools, pupils and parents will have an overview of the achievement of the anticipated results of teaching, which has been missing until now,” Deputy Education Minister Jiří Nantl said. Fuková pointed out the importance of the next phase of preparing models of the school-level educational programs, which will show how to include subject matter on the culture and history of the Roma into mainstream instruction.

“It’s not just important what to teach, but also how to teach it. It is important to respond to children’s behavior in the classroom and to discuss the current challenges in society with them,” Fuková said.

Nantl also said it will be necessary to transform the enrollment procedures for secondary school. The plan is for the new secondary school enrollment system to start together with the compulsory introduction of the revised education programs in the primary schools.

It will be necessary to amend legislation for that to happen. This year the aim is to prepare a concept for these changes that should reflect these adjustments to the educational process.

Every four years, according to ministerial representatives, there should be an audit as to whether the content of instruction in the schools corresponds to the current needs of pupils, society, and teachers. Changes could then be done as necessary.

The pilot phase for the new Framework Education Programs ends in 2026, when adjustments should be announced. A National Council on Curriculum will also be created for that purpose, an advisory body to the ministry staffed by experts, organizations and representatives of schools.

Unlike the 2005 curriculum, these new Framework Education Programs do not define the specific content of what is to be taught in each grade, but rather set targets for various levels of education and skills which pupils are to master by the end of each phase. The new RVPs stress the practical use of knowledge in everyday life and develop literacy in mathematics, reading and writing.