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cooperation with each other. Unfortunately, in reality there are many obstacles within this
process. One of the barriers is a defective school bus system. There are not enough school
buses, the timetable is not compatible with extracurricular classes, which leads to creating
separate classes – for local children and commuting children. It reinforces antagonisms
between these two groups of children and intensifies an estrangement among the children
who are commuting.
Schools in small towns or villages have less financial means for extracurricular activities
or additional classes. Therefore the disproportions between students from villages and
from towns grow, especially that the latter often go to paid private classes.
Students, who were meant to study in classes of under twenty schoolmates, are often
placed in classes where the number of students exceeds thirty or forty children.
Hence, work conditions interfere with the demand for equalizing educational
opportunities.
As a consequence of the reform, the number of students in general high schools grew.
At the moment a big percentage of general high school students are unprepared, either
intellectually, or mentally for learning in such schools. The level of general high schools
went down visibly, while education in new type of high schools called “profiled” high
schools is below any standards of quality. The introduction of profiled high schools is
perceived as something artificial and negative in the aspect of quality of schooling and
equalizing educational chances, especially opportunities of getting a New Matura – a
standardized test after high school introduced in 2005.
Recapitulation
Junior high school and high school teachers' opinions on the 1999 educational reform are
clearly negative and pessimistic. All the teachers we spoke to, had problems with pointing
out any positive sides of the reform, while they had no difficulties in showing negative
aspects. Teachers have a feeling of material deprivation, decrease of respect, lack of social
importance of their profession. At the same time the expectations of students, parents and
principals towards teachers are high.
Teachers believe that a basic reason of 1999 education reform's shortcomings is a lack
of participation of teachers in preparation of the reform. They claim that such a long list of
weak points of the reform is a result of the lack of cooperation between the creators of the
reform and the teachers, whose only role in the reform was to put it into practice.
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