So far, 23 204 pupils from Ukraine have entered Czech primary schools. Kindergartens register 3,310 children. The available capacity is an order of magnitude higher. On Tuesday, the Education Ministry said that it was surveying the situation in individual regions. Thousands of places will only be available from the next school year.
There are nearly 13,000 vacancies in kindergartens. Most of them are in the Moravian-Silesian (1667), Central Bohemian (1357), and Olomouc regions (1164). In the Karlovy Vary and Liberec regions and Prague, there are between four hundred and six hundred vacancies. So far, most Ukrainian children have found places in the capital (579), Central Bohemia (392), and Moravia-Silesia (294).
Primary schools offer more vacancies. The Ministry counted 150,458, with the largest numbers in the Moravian-Silesian (19,867), South Moravian (16,008), and Ústí nad Labem (14,159) regions. Over 4,000 Ukrainian pupils already attend school in Prague (4,174). This is followed by the Central Bohemia Region (3,053) and the South Moravia Region (2,552).
In the context of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and a possible further influx of refugees, the Ministry has been looking into the capacity of schools to increase their capacity if necessary from the next school year.
The possible creation of up to 9,530 new places in kindergartens and 35,257 in primary schools has been reported for the new school year 2022/2023 as of April 7, 2022,” the ministry said.
The largest new places could be added in Central Bohemia and the Moravian-Silesian Region kindergartens. The largest increases could be in the Moravian-Silesian Region and Prague in schools.
The Ministry of the Interior has granted temporary protection to 283,164 people fleeing the war. 166 464 people have registered with the Foreigners’ Police. Women and children dominate among the refugees. An overview of available school capacities will facilitate the deployment of refugees within the country.