Prague to invest CZK 46m into modernizing, creating more capacity in classrooms

The Prague City Council approved a plan to lend over CZK 46 million to 24 schools for secondary education projects that will increase school capacity and modernize teaching. The proposal will now go to the full City Assembly for a final vote.

Last year, the City Council approved an action plan for schools established and overseen by the municipality. The plan extends to 2027, and some schools will implement projects this year. These projects will, for example, create barrier-free entrances, City Councilor Antonín Klecanda, responsible for education, sports, and leisure, said in a press release. He will present the proposal to the City Assembly at an upcoming meeting.

This financial assistance will be returned to the city by the individual contributory organizations that operate the schools in the following five years. Klecanda said the organizations have a limited budget and lack sufficient funds to implement the projects. This is why the city has to provide these contributory organizations with funds. Without these funds, projects cannot be prepared and subsequently implemented, she added.

A call for applications was announced on Nov. 30, 2022. Applications were evaluated according to formal and acceptability criteria, and, if the application met the criteria, it would be recommended for funding. Projects do not compete with each other.

Preferred projects strengthen the capacities for preparatory education for four-year secondary schools, after the completion of the ninth year of elementary school.

Some projects were for classes that support effective teaching and educational work, projects to create relaxation rooms for teachers, background or equipment for teaching selected subjects, and equipment for developing foreign languages. Others supported modernizing classrooms, ICT equipment, building networks, and data distributions to ensure greater cyber security.

Limited school capacity has long been a problem with Prague schools. Unless something is done, Czech secondary schools could face overcrowding by 2030, forcing many people into vocational schools instead of general education in a gymnasium.

According to Eurostat data for 2020, the proportion of secondary school students in Czechia enrolled in general education is lower than the EU average, landing the nation among the states with the lowest percentile of students in this course of study.