Czech companies want change in education financing

The discussion between employers and schools on new forms of funding should start in the second half of May.

The absolute majority of Czech employers and entrepreneurs takes the view that the direct payment given per student to the schools and universities regardless to the pupil's capabilities and employability is the major reason for the actual bad condition of the Czech education system.

In the March survey organized by the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic among the employers, 98 percent of the respondents want a profound change in the system of secondary schools and universities‘ funding.

This opinion has been broadly supported by the participants in the discussion forum held in the Prague National technical library on Thursday 16^th April. The event has been organized within the Year of Industry and Technical Education initiative proclaimed by the Confederation of Industry for 2015.

„The financing counted as an amount per pupil is outdated,“ the Prague University of Chemistry and Technology’s rector Karel Melzoch said. The participants in the meeting agreed that it will be necessary to change the existing principle of awarding money to the schools and universities as well as the coefficients of the education financing where the employability factor makes up only four percent of the total.

„We are supporting the qualitative parameters corresponding to the schools‘ and universities’s specifics as well as to the overall demand,“ the education deputy minister Jaromír Veber stressed.

The participants in the discussion forum agreed that the new bill should be presented to the Czech parliament before the end of this year. The discussion among the relevant resorts, schools and employers‘ representatives should start in the second half of May.