Basic education includes primary and lower secondary education and lasts 9 years, which corresponds to nine years of mandatory school attendance. The pupil’s legal guardians are obliged to send the pupil to school for mandatory school attendance. In the opposite case, they are in breach of the law for which they risk the imposition of sanctions. All foreigners living in the Czech Republic have access to basic education regardless of their residence permit or knowledge of the language of teaching. The right to free basic education at public schools is guaranteed by law. Lunch and extracurricular activities are usually subject to a fee.
Informal education
Mandatory school attendance begins in the school year for children who have reached 6 years of age on 31 August before the given school year. Physically and mentally mature children may be accepted earlier based on the stipulated conditions. Children who were allowed to postpone mandatory school attendance by the school principal may commence mandatory school attendance at latest in the school year in which they turn 8 years of age. Mandatory school attendance lasts 9 years. At latest until the end of the school year in which the pupil turns 17 years of age. Persons that have completed nine years of mandatory school education but have not achieved basic education may acquire this level of education via the relevant courses.
Recognition of basic, secondary or post-secondary vocational education completed at foreign schools
The majority of the population acquires basic education at primary school with the structure:
- lower level (primary level), includes 1st to 5th grade
- higher level (lower secondary level), includes 6th to 9th grade
Some schools do not have all the years (i.e. incomplete schools), the majority consist only of the lower level. Moreover, preparatory classes may be established alongside primary schools for children who have been granted postponement of mandatory school attendance. The school designated by the regional authority provide foreigners’ children with preparatory courses in Czech. Members of ethnic minorities are ensured the right to education in the language of the ethnic minority upon fulfilment of the statutory conditions.
Primary school also performs a broader educational and social function. It ensures: behavioural consulting, school meals and usually also extracurricular activities for children in school groups and school clubs, which provide interest-related education.
The pupil fulfils mandatory school attendance at a primary school established by the municipality or municipal union seated in the school district in which the pupil has permanent residence (i.e. catchment school), unless the legal guardian chooses a different school for the pupil.
Registration to primary school is conducted in the period from 1 to 30 April of the calendar year in which the child is to commence mandatory school attendance. Transfer from the lower to the higher level of primary school is automatic. If the child arrives in the Czech Republic in the course of the school year, it must be registered for school immediately.