❓Has your kid reached the compulsory education age, but you haven’t found a place in elementary school for them?
❗️You can submit a written request for admission in an attendance area school. If you receive a negative decision, you can file an appeal against it.
Given that the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports currently intends to identify all children of compulsory education age not enrolled in schools and to find places for them, now is a good time to enroll your kid in elementary school even if you’ve already tried to do so and failed.
- This way, you’ll make sure that your case is handled in accordance with the law, which defines the official procedure and obliges the founding body to guarantee a school place for all children of compulsory school age.
- As for the obligations the law imposes on parents, you’ll be able to prove that you’ve done all you could and in accordance with the law to enroll your child in school.
- In addition, if you file an appeal against a negative decision, the regional authority will be able to verify within the administrative procedure whether the decision was made in accordance with the law and the school’s capacity as stated in the register.
What steps you need to take:
- Submit a written request for enrollment in your attendance area elementary school (based on your permanent residence address).
- We recommend sending a registered letter to the school’s address.
- You may submit requests to more schools. However, the obligation to admit a child of compulsory education age concerns the attendance area school and children living in the corresponding area in the first place.
- Upon submitting a request, the administrative procedure is initiated. The procedure itself and the deadlines are governed by the Rules of Administrative Procedure.
- The school is obliged to reply to the request within 30 days by sending a positive or a negative decision on admission.
- If the decision is negative, file an appeal against it within 15 days. We recommend using our templates for appeals against decisions made by attendance area elementary schools.
Request templates to download:
Request for enrollment to elementary school
Compulsory education
- Legal representatives are required by law to ensure education of their children of compulsory education age:
- kindergarten: age of 5
- elementary school: age of 6 to 15– or up until the age of 17 and completion of 9 years of education
- This obligation is imposed not only on parents, but also the state and local authorities. More specifically, in its capacity as founding body of the attendance area school, a municipality is required to guarantee a place for all children living in the area.
- Enrolling a child of compulsory school age in a Czech school will be one of the criteria for the transition from temporary protection to permanent residence.
Elementary school attendance areas
- A school is assigned an attendance area and is required to give priority to the area’s inhabitants in the admission procedure.
- The only reason not to admit a child in their attendance area school is insufficient capacity.
- You can find more information about attendance areas at the education division office of your local authority (Prague – Municipal district authorities; other – City halls). You can also approach a local Integration center or call the helpline operated by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth.
For more information on elementary education in the Czech Republic, go to the Children 6–15 section.