The Prague Post
January 7th, 2009
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    star Gift Subscriptions
Prague Center Hotel

Home » Archives » Schools & Education

Czech schools see rise in enrollment

Administrators try to accommodate baby boom surge

November 5th, 2008 issue

By Martina Čermáková

MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
Kohoutek kindergarten in Prague 6 has been steadily expanding its classroom capacity for the past seven years.
MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
Students at Kohoutek kindergarten are sharing their toys with more kids this year.
MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
Some of the city's eldest kindergarteners may soon find themselves being shuffled to overflow space in Prague elementary schools.
FOR THE POST
As another school year gets under way, Prague’s kindergartens and preschools — školky — find themselves overflowing as the country’s baby boom kicks into high gear. City officials have tried to alleviate some of the pressure by constructing new spaces and transforming unused ones into additional classrooms, as well as imposing priority admission criteria. However, many children who were supposed to make the enrollment cut this fall were turned away, while others were put on a waiting list.
“We had to refuse 15 children this school year,” says Světluše Pimperová, the head of the Kohoutek kindergarten in Prague 6, which has been steadily expanding its capacity since 2001 due to increased demand.
Pimperová keeps a waiting list of about 14 children younger than 3 in case a child drops out, but being on the list does not guarantee a spot when the next school year begins.
Pimperová is not the only one facing this situation. Statistics from the Institute for Information on Education (ÚIV) for the 2007–08 school year show that 1,735 requests for admission went refused.
There doesn’t appear to be any easy fix to the city’s escalating enrollment problem, which mostly impacts children ages 3 to 6. The Education Ministry has included a priority admission clause — allowing kids whose parents are permanent residents of a particular district first dibs on the schools there — in the first stage of the school law amendment waiting to be approved. “We are aware of the problem and that’s why we have included the priority admission in the school law amendment.”
For now, however, whether Prague’s kindergartens will be able to take up the rising numbers of preschoolers rests on the shoulders of individual city councils and school administrators.
Unmet demand isn’t just limited to public schools. Nessie, the private English preschool in Prague 5, opened a new branch in Prague 6 this September increasing its capacity by 52 and was still short of space.
“Already last year, we were full, and there were up to 10 children on the waiting list,” notes Jana Řídělová, the head of Nessie.
Since 2000, the number of children per kindergarten class has been on the rise. The most recent figures, from 2006–07, show 94 children per school. That’s 18 more than the 2000–01 school year, according to ÚIV. This increase is due to two key factors: the dissolution of kindergartens leading up to 2003–04 and the ongoing baby boom, says Jana Podhorská of the Czech Statistical Office.
“The disbandment of kindergartens occurred in response to the situation at the beginning of the ’90s, when the number of newborns dropped significantly, and kindergartens were [for a long time] under-filled,” Podhorská explains.
But, over the past few years, the number of newborns has been on the rise, Podhorská notes.
“It mainly has to do with the large number of women born in the ’70s and ’80s now entering a fertile age and setting up families,” Podhorská says. In fact, in the past year, the number of babies born in Prague increased by 844, according to Czech Statistical Office.
“Although we expected a rise in the number of children, the actual number of newborns proved that our past estimates of the necessary capacities in kindergartens were wrong,” says Jan Holický of Prague 6 City Council, which is still trying to figure out how to accommodate 300 more students.
Through projects like Hrajeme si na školu (Let’s Pretend It’s School) and Škola (School), Prague 6 City Council hopes to make room for 200 more children in the coming two years. Taking inspiration from abroad, the council plans on creating space for the oldest of the kindergarteners in elementary schools.
One such classroom opened on behalf of the Kohoutek kindergarten on the ground floor of Hanspaulka school this September.
“The parents feared the relocation the most, but the children have no problems,” says Pimperová, head of the Kohoutek kindergarten, adding that the kids are familiar with the environment from their past visits for extracurricular activities at Hanspaulka.
Giving priority
Other districts walk similar paths. Prague 3 City Council will expand its kindergartens’ capacities over the next two years. Five new classes have opened in Prague 8 this year, while Prague 7 City Council says it is currently enlarging existing kindergarten spaces.
Expecting about 200 additional preschoolers next year, Prague 4 plans on opening six new classes, according to spokeswoman Markéta Aulová.
“The Council is discussing the possibility of building a new kindergarten in the location of larger housing projects,” Prague 5 spokesman Radovan Myslík says.
In many cases, city councils have ruled that kindergartens have to give priority to children whose parents are permanent residents of the district.
“Since the Prague 8 City Council finances its kindergartens, it’s logical that they are meant for children with a permanent residence in Prague 8,” says the council’s Petr Svoboda. After registration in February 2009, Svoboda says, the kindergartens in Prague 8 will consist exclusively of children who live in Prague 8. To survey the situation and plan ahead accordingly, Prague 8 has moved up registration for preschoolers from April to February.
For Gabriela Hermannová, the head of Pražačka kindergarten in Prague 3, refusing those without a permanent residence comes as a second nature but no less unpleasant.
“Sometimes the parents rent a flat here, and they might be living here for 10 years and their child is refused,” she says. “It’s unfair.”
This school year, Hermannová had to turn down seven children for lacking residence.
But, as Helena Kvačková of Prague 9 City Council points out, most kindergartens have implemented this priority of admission long ago in an effort to change the situation of classroom shortage.
Martina Čermáková can be reached at specialsection@praguepost.com


Other articles in Schools & Education (5/11/2008):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Reader's comments:

add your comment
[15:01 13/11/2008] : thus is really sad somebody should do something about this every kid deserves a chance to go to school!
penny johnson
prok
Note: Comments that include profanity, personal attacks or any other inappropriate material are prohibited.  

Add your comment


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Hotel booking
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.