Prague, Jan 18 (CTK) – The Czech government approved yesterday a draft directive of the education and interior ministries aimed to prevent cheating in the Czech language tests that foreigners applying for permanent stay must pass.
The directive follows up an amendment to the law on foreigners´ stay.
The private language schools where the biggest number of problems was found are to be stripped of the right to organise the tests that are to be supervised by the Czech School Inspection.
The change was prompted by the criminal proceedings taken against several employees of language schools who allegedly secured positive results for foreigners in exchange for bribes in early 2014.
To eliminate the repeat of the cases where other persons knowing the Czech language sat down to the tests, foreigner police representatives will be present at the tests.
The directive is also to prevent the practice where mediators tried to influence the course of the tests and acquire the certificate for some foreigners illegally.
The departments of universities where very low numbers of foreigners were taking the tests will also be stripped of the right to organise them. It will only be retained by the language schools established by regions that organise state language tests.
From January 2008, when the tests were launched, until April 30, 2015, more than 55,000 people passed the exams. The number of interested persons has been steadily decreasing.
The foreigners must prove the knowledge of Czech on A1 level, which is to be raised to A2 as from 2018.
