Experts: Scrapping ninth grade of primary school would worsen students’ educational outcomes

Scrapping the ninth grade of primary school would likely lead to poorer educational outcomes, increase the number of young people entering the labour market without sufficient qualifications, and place an excessive burden on the education system. Experts from several organisations (EDUin, PAQ Research and IDEA at CERGE-EI) agreed on this in a joint statement.

The possibility of abolishing the ninth grade of primary schools was recently raised by Chamber of Deputies Speaker and SPD leader Tomio Okamura and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO). However, Education Minister Robert Plaga (ANO) said the proposal is not currently under consideration.

In mid-July, Okamura proposed abolishing the ninth grade of primary schools, as is the case in Germany, Poland and Hungary. He said the move could save the state budget CZK 50 million a year. According to Plaga, however, the claimed savings of CZK 50 billion are unrealistic.