Parents spend night queuing outside elementary school

Ostrava, North Moravia, Jan 18 (CTK) - More than two dozens of Czech parents spent a frosty night waiting in a queue to be able to register their six-year-old children in an elementary school where English is taught from the first grade.

The first person, Kamil Pultar, arrived after two o'clock at night on Monday.

"We want our daughter to attend the school. The school is good. We know it because our son has been attending it," Pultar said.

People who live in the school's neighbourhood do not have to wait in any queue. But those who live in areas administratively belonging to other elementary schools can enlist their children only if there are vacant seats in the class.

Two years ago when the Pultars wanted to register their son at the elementary school in Ostrava-Poruba, they also had to stand in a queue to be sure that the boy will learn English from the very beginning.

Barbora Burkovicova came at 05:00 to replace her husband who was waiting in the queue from 03:00. She did not complain about having to wait in the street outside the school building in the cold morning.

"It is so that one has to wait for the good things," Burkovicova said with a smile.

The school head Milena Walderova is pleased to see that parents are so interested in her school.

"The queues are a tradition. They started in 1990. Languages began to be taught here then and it was attractive for parents," Walderova said.

Even children from other municipalities attend the school, she added.

This year, only 28 people queued to get their kids registered.

"Once there were 114 applicants. One mother waited here as long as 12 hours. She arrived at six in the afternoon and stayed till the early morning," Walderova recalled.

Several years ago, a potential pupil's parents arrived at the school in a camper. As it was extremely chilly, they made punch, drank plumb brandy and even danced not to get cold.

However, even if parents wait in the queue, they cannot be certain that their child will attend the school because children from the neighbourhood may use up the whole capacity of the class.

But some of the kids from the immediate neighbourhood go to different schools because this school seems too demanding to their parents.

The headmistress plans to open two or three new classes in September, depending on the situation. On Monday, she told the parents who waited outside the school that their children will most probably be admitted.

Under the communist regime a few decades ago, Czechs were used to waiting in queues overnight, for example, if they wanted a new car or a colour TV. Now it is education they are after.