Recommendations on enrolment in primary schools

Enrolment in primary school is an important day in the lives of all children, yet it also brings certain possible complications for the parents and headteachers. However, the Schools Act must be observed at all times.

In reaction to a growing number of complaints and queries the Defender received in 2015 from parents, non-profit organisations and local governments, she decided to issue a set of recommendations in this area to help parents and headteachers of the relevant school to resolve ambiguous situations.

 The objective of the Defender’s recommendation is, in particular, to assess criteria in terms of compliance with the Schools Act and the Anti-Discrimination Act and their application to various groups of children, especially from and outside the “catchment area”. The recommendation also contains instructions for assessing individual criteria and for pursuing administrative proceedings on (non-)acceptance to primary education. In this regard, the Defender also prepared a tool to assist the headteachers in decision-making concerning the applications filed on behalf of the children.

To the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the Defender recommended to issue an implementing legal regulation that would stipulate binding conditions and organisation of enrolment in compulsory education. The Defender had included detailed information in a separate report under Section 24 (1)(c) of the Public Defender of Rights Act, which she was also sending to the Chamber of Deputies.