Education Minister presents plan to improve education quality

Prague, Feb 5 (CTK) - Czech Education Minister Petr Fiala and Prime Minister Petr Necas presented Tuesday ten steps towards high-quality education, with focus on mathematics, cutting bureaucracy, changing financing and improving university education.

Fiala is to submit a draft amendment to raise the quality of university education in May.

Some measures, some of which aim to stop the declining level of Czech pupils in international comparison, are to be financed with the help of EU subsidies.

"Our economy will be based on quality people," Necas said.

He said the respective measures should start to be taken in kindergartens and children should be motivated to take interest in mathematics, technical branches and nature sciences.

The system of distributing money in regional education is to change.

"Our goal is to reach a situation where state subisidies per pupil will be the same in Plzen as well as in Ostrava," Fiala said.

He said part of the measures is support to undepriviliged pupils.

Fiala said he is also planning to introduce a career order of teachers as from 2015.

Teachers' administration is to be cut and the ministry is checking whether some decrees are not doubled.

One measure provides for merging schools. Higher learning institutions should be divided into scientific, educational and profession-oriented ones.