On May 26, The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights issued its recommendations on what should be improved in the Czech Republic in the field of human rights, calling on the country's politicians to give specific attention to education. There are still many mainstream primary schools for socially or physically disadvantaged pupils that remained closed for one reason or another. International institutions have pointed to this situation, which has also been a focus of non-profit organizations like the League of Human Rights, as a critical issue for the Czech government to deal with.
The UN Committee expressed concern that children with disabilities are primarily educated in special schools, despite the declared intentions of the Czech government to integrate them into mainstream education. Members of the Committee were also critical of the fact that the state does not provide sufficient assistance for children with disabilities currently being educated in mainstream schools, and urged the Ministry of Education to increase openness in the education system and fully reflect the idea of inclusive education.
To adjust the education system, a sufficient amount of financial resources needs to be allocated, including the provision of all support measures that children with disabilities may need to maximize their educational potential. The Committee also called on the Czech government to explicitly enshrine inclusive education as the preferred model in the country's Education Act. The law should explicitly include the obligation to ensure adequate support for all children with special educational needs.
The League of Human Rights has for some time highlighted to international organizations and the Czech government the issue of placement of disadvantaged children in special schools and the massive segregation that persists in Czech schools. The League of Human Rights also highlighted the good practice of awarding the "Fair School" certificate to schools that create a fair and equal environment for all children. Since 2009, 27 schools have earned this designation.
The League is trying to show that the joint education of all children in regular classes can work, and can even help other teachers and administrators to overcome fears associated with integrating disadvantaged children. "For example, an elementary School in the Karlovy Vary countryside region or the elementary school in Svitavy - Lačnov are prime examples of what education in modern, heterogeneous and open societies should look like. Both schools are able, due to high standards of professionalism and leadership and tremendous efforts from the whole teaching staff, to achieve a completely individual approach to all children, openness and permeability of the whole school and effective communication with parents. These isolated cases, however, should be the standard for which the Ministry of Education always strives," said Marek Zemský, a project coordinator for the Fair School initiative.
