School attendence in the Czech Republic is mandatory from the age of 6 till 16. Most of the schools in the CR are state schools. But there are also some private schools, where students have to pay in order to visit it. The fees for a year of study on a private school is somewhere around 15,000 Kc (Czech Crowns) per a school year--that is about $ 500. You may be thinking that it is not a big amount of money but the average wages are about $ 4,800 a year. Anyways, the state schools are probably on the same level as the private schools when thinking about how much the students get to know. So the state schools are good for anyone. The schools are all coeducational. But there are also some church school, but nothing is going to be said about them, because of lack my own expierence. I only mentined the fact that some church schools exist.
The school year usualy starts on September 1st (or the first Monday in September, in a case 1st is Saturday or Sunday) and ends on June 31st (or the last Friday in June). The students have many vacation during the school year, like Constitution Day, Christmas, Spring Break, Eastern and so on.
The classes usually take 45 minutes and are followed by a 10 or 5 minute break. The students have also a lunch break that takes 45 minutes.
The education is divided into following levels:
creches--for little kids up to the age of 3, but not very many kids visit it , but it is an option if the parents are busy.
kindergarten--also called a nursery school. For kids from 3 to 6 years.
elementary school--from the age of 6 to 10. They learn how to write, read and count, basics of sciences.
junior high-- from 10 to 14 years of age. Lots of stuff to learn and get ready for Highschool.
highschool-- most of the students are between 14 and 18 years old. There are different types of high schools.
university--doesn't not depend on your age. You can be 40 and still go and study on a university.
The highschool education usually lasts for 4 years. It ends with an school-leaving examination (Maturita) which is required by all universities and colleges. Students have to pass exams from four different subjects, where two of them are mandatory and two optional. The Czech Language and a foreign language (English, German, Franch) are the mandatory ones. The exam from each of these subject takes 15 minutes and it is oral. Students draw one question out of 30 for each of those four subject. So that is about 120 questions you have to study before taking this exam.
Different types of highschools:
grammar schools--the most common type of school. The students get a general knowledge and they get ready for the universty.
special schools--schools that give students a special education, for example music schools, art schools, agricultural schools and so on.
vocational schools-- they train students for special jobs and do not expect the students to go to the universities.
After a successfully finished highschool education the students can apply for an entrance exam to a universtiy. Students have to take the entering exams, which consist of a written test and an interview. And it is not so easy.
The university or college students can enroll at three-year courses for a Bachelor's Degree or four and five-year courses for Master's Degree. Studying a medical university takes 6 years. The university study is finished by a state exam and written thesis in order to get a diploma. Doctoral Degrees are awarded after another few years of study.
There are many different universities in the Czech Republic. The best know is probably The Charles University in Prague, builded during the reign of the czech king Charles IV. in 1348. Other famous universites are
The University of Economics, Prague
Masaryk University, Brno
Palacky University, Olomouc
Purkyne Universtity, Usti nad Labem
