Education

9. Education

The Czech Republic

All of us know that child from one to three years of age can attend a day nursery and from three years of age, kindergarten. The tutor also teaches his wards, the general principles of the alphabet and of mathematics.

After enrolling in the nine-year elementary school, six-years-olds begin their compulsory school attendance. The school year begins on September 1st and finishes on June 30th. Children gradually learn to read, write and count; later they get acquainted with the fundamentals of history, geography, the natural sciences and the fine arts. At the end of each school year pupils get reports with their academic record in different subjects. This is followed by a long-awaited two months of holidays, which they look forward to very much. Naturally, these are not the only vacations they have. They also have Christmas, Easter and spring holidays, as well as few free days on state holidays.

In the final year of the elementary school many people face a problem. During this time everybody needs to choose his future occupation. The choice depends not only on our interests but also on our performance and success at school.

We can choose from various options: to study at different secondary schools (industrial, medical, economic) or an apprentice-training center, or some art schools. One of the alternative secondary schools is Grammar School, which prepares its students for university studies. At the present time there are also private and religious schools. In contrast with the past, more emphasis is placed on foreign language studies (England, German, French, Spanish and Italian) as well as computers and economics.

Secondary school studies last for four years. At the end of the fourth year students must pass a graduation examination, usually consisting of oral and written parts. Knowledge of four subjects – five at some specialized schools – is verified here. The Czech language exam is compulsory, while other subjects are determined either by the institute itself or left to the choice of the students. From each subject a student select one question, which should be answered and discussed for fifteen minutes. The graduation examination committee rules as to how we performed. If we do not manage to pass the examination on our first attempt, we are offered a second chance in September.

If we want to study at college or university, we must successfully pass the entrance examination and interviews. The choices are really quite wide-ranging. We can decide whether we will study at a school with a technical, humanitarian or economic orientation, one of the medical faculties, or at the conservatory for those of us who are more talented. Universities ant Technical Universities have several levels. The lowest, usually lasting three years, is the bachelor’s degree. We achieve the title of bachelor. We can also opt for study at a teacher’s college, upon the completion of which we obtain the title of master. After completing studies at an economics or technical college we obtain the title of engineer. The completion of studies is marked by a ceremony called graduation, where we get a diploma certifying the successful completion of our studies.