The Prague Post Online: News: Education reforms gain traction

September 7th, 2008

Endowment Fund Business Listings ONLINE Reservations Classifieds Subscriptions

Real Estate Prague Prague Rentals Prague Apartments Prague Art & Antiques

Education reforms gain traction

Topolánek pushes for new entrance exams after son fails

By Ondřej Bouda
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
May 21st, 2008 issue

When Tomáš Topolánek failed his high-school entrance exams to an unidentified prestigious school in Prague last month, his father, Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, blamed the application system established by his political rivals.

“The school had 12 open spots,” he said at a May 12 press conference that dealt with changes to the education system. “Out of 21 children, nine failed and one of them happened to be my son. It is clear that the system failed and is completely dysfunctional. The school had no space to make proper choices.”

The Civic Democrats (ODS) are currently working through reforms to the existing education system, which was built by Social Democratic (ČSSD) Education Minister Petra Buzková during her 2002–06 term in office.

In 2005, the ČSSD initiated reforms that would reduce the number of secondary schools to which a student could apply. Previously, students had often applied to several schools but, after deciding on one, did not inform the other schools that had also accepted them. Thus schools often found out how many students were going to attend only when it was too late to admit others to fill empty spots. In an attempt to correct the problem, the ČSSD reforms allowed students to apply to only one school during a first round of entrance exams, and — in the event that students failed — instituted a second round.

Despite opposition within the ruling coalition and even the ODS itself, the government is already pushing the reinstatement of multiple applications through Parliament only a few weeks after the failed entrance exams of Topolánek’s son. Thanks to a bill passed in the lower chamber May 7 and now scheduled for a Senate vote, in the future students will be able to apply to three schools during the first round. “By voting for three applications, we enable our children to choose more freely,” said ODS member of Parliament Walter Bartoš, the party’s specialist in education and author of the changes during the parliamentary debate.

But not everyone agrees.

“We’re going back to where we started,” said a Prague high-school director who declined to be identified. “This system is going to be expensive and impossible to deal with logistically.” He also pointed out that the law allows three applications to be submitted but involves two rounds of exams. Thus the students will have to hope that their exams don’t fall on the same date. “The discussed freedom of choice is just an illusion,” he continued. “Students will have as many schools to choose from as they do now and their chances of acceptance will remain the same. The only effect will be to create headaches for school management as they will have to start guessing the numbers of students that will actually start in September.”

Further changes to the education system include fees for kindergarten and the abolition of limits for the minimum number of students in a class.

“It has become clear that the system needs a few adjustments, which we are implementing now,” said Education Ministry spokeswoman Kateřina Böhmová.

The ČSSD has already stated that a few of the planned changes are anti-social and will be revoked if the ČSSD wins the next election. “Some of the changes the government is planning right now make sense and are crucial given the current situation in education,” said Shadow Education Minister Jiří Havel. “But others, such as kindergarten fees, are nonsense and we will do everything in our power to stop such changes, even if it means revoking them once we come to power.” Regarding the new system of high-school applications, he said, “This is what applicants want and so we have to respect it. It is going to cause a few sleepless nights among directors, but we’ll have to wait and see how the system works out in the end.”

The Prague high-school director, currently busy with seniors’ final exams, says politicians should concentrate on other key areas of education that need addressing. “The government is dealing either with technical details or making disruptive changes. Instead they should focus on finishing the standardized high-school leaving certificates,” he said. These reforms have been in the making for the past 10 years and have been postponed again till 2010. “Students need to know what the curriculum is going to be and prepare for the exams accordingly. That certainty would be of much more value to them and their future lives than an illusionary choice of high schools,” he said.

Ondřej Bouda can be reached at news@praguepost.com

Reader's comments:

add your comment

[23:22 22/05/2008] : We have the same problem here in the United States.
When children fail to qualify on a test, the test, testers, or the system is blamed.
It's as if those that failed had nothing to do with it.
Those that failed had the same opportunity as all those that passed the test and studied hard and applied themselves to the task.
It would be very rare that one is not smart enough to pass a high school entrance exam. The parents should examine their children's study habits and not blame others for their own failings.

Vladimir Val Cymbal
Tarzana California

Note: Comments that include profanity, personal attacks or any other inappropriate material are prohibited.

Add your comment

Most e-mailed articles
Souls of the new machine Planned skyscrapers are \'too high\' An epic journey

Related articles
Hell razer

Most visited in Business Listings

The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.