Changes in Czech schools: What to keep in mind as a parent

The Amendment to the School Act from September 2025 has brought a series of changes affecting various aspects and stages of children’s education in the Czech Republic. The complete list of changes (in Czech) is long and they will take place gradually over the upcoming years.

For now, we will focus on children of preschool or primary school age whose school registration period is coming up soon. Cheer up! These are positive changes that should make both the enrolment and learning processes easier and beneficial to young pupils.

Enrolment deadlines

Public school enrolment deadlines have been brought forward by a few months. Preschools and primary schools will have more time to process the applications and potential individual needs of the children:

• Preschools will be issuing the application forms from 15 March till 15 April. They will collect the applications at the very end of this period (13-15 April). Keep an eye on the official Brno website Zápis do MŠ – all the information concerning the enrolment process (also in English) will be updated soon.
• Primary schools will start their first-grade enrolment process even earlier:
  • registration forms are being issued from January 1 already,
  • the actual registration process (children accompanied by their parents visit schools) takes place from 15 January to 15 February. Please, beware that each school sets specific date(s) of registration within this period.

Among other things, you will be asked whether your child a) attended a public preschool from age 5, or b) had an individual type of education (homeschooling, any type of children’s group (dětská skupina), alternative or private preschool not on the list of the officially registered preschool educational establishments).

Find out more about the process on the official Brno website Zápis do ZŠ – the English version of the website is not yet fully up-to-date.

More teaching assistants & free-of-charge preparation

As for helping primary school pupils directly in the classroom, there are two important and positive changes:

1] From January 2026, a teaching assistant will be provided for up to 20 hours per week for all first-grade classes with 15 or more pupils. More assistants can be allowed for a class if there are children with higher-level special needs such as autism or behavioral disorders.

2] The list of children (in both first and second grades) eligible for free-of-charge preparation necessary for the smooth inclusion at the preschool level of education (usually extra classes of the Czech language provided directly at your primary school or at the nearest designated primary school) has been extended.

From now on foreign children as well as children with Czech citizenship but equally insufficient knowledge of Czech qualify for these extra free lessons. This is great news for families with mixed nationalities whose children for various reasons had no opportunity to master Czech at a native-speaker level yet.

For more information, check the website Inkluzivní škola.

Admission rules

Last but not least, there is a series of changes that are important when it comes to admission to or attendance of a public primary school in the Czech Republic:

1] Preschools are now obliged to share information about a child’s development and potential needs for support with their future primary school by March 31 at the latest. This should help the teachers to provide each pupil with as much individualised support as they need.

2] Written feedback will replace the traditional grading system (marks 1 to 5) in September 2027 for lower classes (grades 1-4) and in September 2028 for upper classes (grades 5 – 9). This should decrease the stress and pressure put on children and, more importantly, allow a more personalised and detailed assessment of a child’s strengths and areas where more work and focus are needed.

3] All children will automatically move on to the 2nd year of their studies after completing the first year. Exceptions will only be granted on parents’ request, backed by a recommendation of an educational or medical specialist.

4] Postponement of the start of school is now only possible based on the recommendation by ŠPZ (školské poradenské zařízení – an educational counselling centre present at most preschools) or a specialist, such as a clinical psychologist for example. (Please, note that the application of this particular change varies according to the date of birth of the child.)

5] As a result of the attempt to minimize the number of children whose start of preschool has been postponed, preparatory classes (přípravné třídy previously intended for such children) will be gradually phased out entirely by 2029.