Education minister hands in resignation

Outgoing education minister Josef Dobeš has tendered his resignation to President Václav Klaus. The two met privately at Prague Castle on Friday morning. Mr Klaus was a supporter of the embattled minister, in the past calling him “the best education minister the country had had since the fall of communism”. However, Mr Dobeš came under fire for mishandled education reforms and the mismanagement of EU funds, as well as a highly-controversial decision to extend accreditation at the troubled law school in Plzeň. While he said his official reason for resigning was 2.5 billion crowns in planned cuts to his ministry’s budget (which he warned would negatively impact teachers’ salaries) many believe the step was a last attempt to save face rather than be dismissed by the prime minister. A successor has not been named yet.