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The Ministry of Education wants to continue supporting Ukrainian teaching assistants and the language education of Ukrainians in order to ensure their successful integration. The support was also approved for the period from the beginning of the new school year to the end of the calendar year, almost 116 million crowns will go to assistants for this period, over 12 million crowns to language education in the field of university studies.
As Tereza Fojtová, the press spokesperson of the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture, informed on Tuesday, support for Ukrainian teaching assistants continues on the same principle as in the 2022/23 school year .
"Therefore, it is valid that this position will be financed from the state budget in the event that the Ukrainian assistant works in a class that has no more than 50 percent of foreigners, if the school simultaneously meets the specified minimum number of foreigners," she said.
From September to December 2022, 583 schools shared support in the amount of approximately 114 million crowns for the work of Ukrainian assistants. The ministry sent about 218 million crowns to 552 schools from all regions for the salaries of assistants and other related expenses in the period from January of this year. Kindergartens and primary schools, where at least ten Ukrainian children are studying, were entitled to money for Ukrainian teaching assistants this year. Secondary schools and conservatories could apply for a grant if they sent at least 20 students from Ukraine. According to statistics, there are 5374 kindergartens, 4261 elementary schools and 1293 secondary schools in the Czech Republic.
"The estimated amount for Ukrainian assistants from September to the end of December is almost 116 million CZK. We will learn more about the number of participating schools from the data collection in September. Schools will not have to fill out any additional applications, they will only confirm in the mentioned data collection whether or not they are interested in this position and its funding from the state," explained Jan Mareš, senior director of the education section at the Ministry of Education and Culture, according to the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Funding for Ukrainian assistants, whose task is to assist in the teaching and integration of foreigners granted temporary protection into class groups, will be provided by the Ministry through the regional authorities and the Prague municipality.
Subsidy for language education
In addition to this support, language support for foreigners will also continue.
The purpose of the grant call will be to support in the academic year 2023/24 the integration of Ukrainian migrants with a tolerance visa or granted temporary protection in the Czech Republic through the development of their communication competences in the Czech language of general and professional orientation, which would lead to their potential study at public universities in Czech-language study programs.
The subsidy can be applied for by a public university that in each of the three previous calendar years has implemented continuous language and vocational training for foreigners to study in Czech-language study programs for at least six months. Applications can be submitted from September 6 to October 6.
In addition, representatives of universities, trade unions and professional associations want to draw attention to the need to increase funds for science and education in the budget at a meeting on September 12 in the auditorium of the University of Applied Sciences (UMPRUM) in Prague, in order to at least partially compensate for inflation. They also want to point out the long-term underfunding of Czech education and present their demands and proposed solutions, as they stated at Tuesday's press conference.