All children aged 6 to 17 living in the Czech Republic on a long-term basis are subject to compulsory education at primary school for nine years. Therefore, it is a legal obligation of parents to enroll their children of compulsory school age in school.
- If a child arrives in the Czech Republic during the school year, it is advisable to enroll them in school without delay.
- Children are placed in grades according to their age.
- At school, they can make new friends and learn Czech much more easily. They can also start attending extracurricular activities and pursue their hobbies.
Find out, to which primary school your child is assigned based on your place of residence (Spádová základní škola):
- using an Interactive map
- at the Education Department of the relevant office (the Municipal Office or the Municipal District Office in case of Prague)
- try asking your neighbors or consulting your local Integration Center
Do not rely on oral agreements, make sure to file a filled-out application in the primary school that was assigned to you.
- This is the easiest way of making sure the authorities have to provide for you.
- File an application even if you were unofficially told that your child could not be admitted in the given school because the school’s capacity was reached.
Is the school unable to accommodate your child due to the fact that their capacity had been reached? The school establisher (local authorities) is required to find a school placement for your child in a primary school located in the vicinity of your place of residence. In this regard you have the same rights as Czech citizens.
- If the principal issues a negative decision on admission that does not state the exact current capacity of the school and its registered capacity, we recommend that parents file an appeal.
- Appeals, which must be filed within 15 days upon receipt of the decision to the school that issued the decision, are handled by the responsible regional authority or Prague City Hall.
- If it has found that the school does have free capacity, the authority may reverse the original decision and approve the child’s admission itself. You can use this template to file an appeal (the template wording assumes that it is a catchment area school).
Even though the school establisher or the regional authorities are obliged to find a place for your child in some other school, in reality the system does not always work. That is why you should reach out to the Education Department of the relevant Municipal Office if they do not contact you first. The Municipal Office should recommend some other school close to your home whose capacity has not been reached or arrange for a place in a school within driving distance.
If you still have not succeeded, we recommend you to try filing another application after some time. You do not have to apply at the school that was assigned to you or a school located in your municipality or municipal district. By doing this you will confirm that you are still here and are still interested in enrolling your child in school on one hand, and on the other it is recommended to keep the rejection letter to be able to prove that you have done everything in your power to assure your child’s compulsary school attendance — because not doing so is against the law and parents may be required to pay a fine.
Enrollment in the 1st grade of primary school
Parents are obliged to enroll their children who will turn 6 before September 1 (i.e., before the start of the school year) in the first grade of primary school.
The regular enrollment period runs from January 15 to February 15. Information about actual dates can be found on each school’s website.
Parents can choose a school and submit applications to multiple schools at the same time. However, we recommend always applying to your catchment area elementary school, where your child will be given priority over children who do not live in the catchment area.
Only especially serious reasons, such as health issues, may justify deferred school entry by one year. Insufficient knowledge of Czech is not considered as an especially serious reason.
Downloadable documents:
Model primary school application form
Model appeal against rejection letter from your assigned primary school