Education and Our school

School attendance is compulsory at the age of 6 or 7 till 15. Schools are mainly state schools, but there are also church and private schools. Attendance at state schools is free of charge and provide the same kind of slovakia-s-education/" class="wiki-link" title="Viac o: education">education with the possibility of the enrolling at universities. Handicapped children are educated separately. School fees in private schools range from 5 000 to 12 000 crowns a year.

Pre- school education begins at the age of one year when children may attend crèches until the age of tree. But usually the mothers stay with them at home. From the age of tree till the age of six children may attend kindergartens. But it is most common for mothers to stay with them at home till children’s school age.

Primary education starts at the basic school and lasts nine years. Children receive an education foundation : writing, counting and reading skills, basics in physics, biology, history and Czech language and literature etc. Secondary education starts at the age of 15 till the age of 18 or 19. Secondary education may be divided among>

• secondary grammar schools
• secondary special schools{ School of Economics, anglictina/agriculture/" class="wiki-link" title="Viac o: agriculture">Agriculture schools, Music Schools, Technical Schools, Schools for health workers etc.}
• vocational secondary schools which prepare young people for their practical professions

Tertiary education starts at the age of 18 or 19 and lasts from 4 to 6 years. Students may attend various colleges or universities{ Law Faculty, College of Agriculture, Philosophical Faculty, Medical Faculty, School of Economics, Technical College etc.}. For those don’t want to entry universities there are various types of two or three-year training courses for opticians, gynecologist nurses, au-pairs, managers etc.

Students end their secondary education after passing the graduation exam. They have to pass an obligatory exam in Czech language and literature, one foreign language and they must choose from two optional subjects studied during previous years.

Subjects taught at Czech schools are as follows: Czech, foreign language{ English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Latin}, geography, mathematics, biology, chemistry, music, fine arts, labs, civics, physical education. Additional subjects taught at special secondary schools are e.g. accounting, economics, typing, shorthand, lab work, tractor driving, workshop, electronics etc.

Students are evaluated by marks from 1 to 5. 1 is the best and 5 is the worst. Each term a student gets his or her school report with marks from both compulsory and elective subjects.

I attend Secondary Grammer School in Česká Třebová. „ Gymnázium „ is secondary school which prepares students for university studies. In our school there are about 12 classes with around 300 students from the age of 11 to the age of 19. One part of our school is the eight-year-gymnázium and the second part is the four-year-gymnázium. Our school is situated in Tyrš square. Not far from a cross road. It was founded 1909. Around our school there is small lovely park. There is a bust of Tyrš in the corner. There are benches, they can relax after lunch, you can have dates with your friends. Behind the school there is a playground where we do exercises.

Our school has tree flours and two gyms and the health center. On the basement floor there are the workshop, the caretaker’s flat and wardrobes. When we go to the school we must change the boots. On the ground floor we can find classrooms, a chemistry lab and a biology lab. Our classroom is situated on this floor. There are two staircases on the second side. Between the staircases we can see many notice-boards with interesting information and timetables. On the first floor we can find our headmaster’s office, a school office, a staffroom and classrooms. On the second floor there is a physics lab, a fine arts lab, classrooms and a computers lab. Our school has one language lab equipped with maps, videos, many cassette records and overhead projectors. On the every floor there is teacher’s room or teachers’ room. Besides mentioned there are many teaching aids for biology, history and geography, TV set with videos and one piano. Classrooms are equipped with old students’ desk and teacher’s tables. On the classroom walls and windows there are flowers, pictures and notice-boards.

A good thing about our school is that it offers us basic knowledge in all subjects{ although some students may not be interested in all subjects}. We can gain general education in all spheres of human knowledge. Everybody has his/her favourite subject and teachers that can influence his or her further life. We can meet a lot of friends – some are of them remain all our lives.

A bad thing is our timetable is inconvenient for those who must commute every day 20 or 30 kilometres. I think that some teachers are not tolerant enough to admit that their subject is not so important. Some teachers are very talkative. I comprehend teachers who are bad because todays’ pupils are very cheeky, furious and bad. They speak vulgarity.