Primary schools saw the highest increase in the number of teachers. Photo credit: Freepik.
Prague, March 30 (CTK) – The number of teachers in nurseries and primary and secondary schools in the Czech Republic has increased by around 16% in five years, to about 180,000 at the beginning of this school year, according to data from the Education Ministry provided to CTK.
Meanwhile, the number of teachers at vocational schools and conservatories has remained more or less stable in the past five years.
Primary schools saw the highest increase in the number of teachers. According to the ministry’s data, 44,976 teachers are teaching in the first to fifth grades of primary schools, and 47,815 are teaching older schoolchildren from the sixth to ninth grades. 75,379 teachers taught at primary schools in the 2017/2018 school year, about 19% fewer than now.
The growing number of teachers is also related to the significant increase in the number of schoolchildren. According to the ministry, the number of pupils attending primary schools rose to over one million for the first time in the country’s history this school year.
A total of 36,637 teachers were working in nurseries and kindergartens at the end of September 2022, about 12.6% more than five years ago.
The number of secondary school teachers stands at 50,528, which is 11% higher than five years ago. According to the ministry’s statistics, 369,205 children went to kindergartens, 1,007,778 attended primary schools and 463,181 secondary schools in the Czech Republic at the end of September.
The number of teachers in kindergartens and nurseries, as well as primary and secondary schools, has increased even compared to the number of pupils and students over the past five years, meaning that the average number of children per teacher has decreased.
While five years ago there were 11.33 children on average per teacher in kindergartens, this figure is now around 10 per teacher. In primary schools, there were 12.29 children per teacher in the 2017/2018 school year and 10.86 last autumn. In secondary schools, there are now 9.17 children per teacher, compared to 9.37 in the past.
The number of teachers in conservatories and vocational schools has not changed significantly.
There are currently 1,666 teachers in Czech conservatories providing education in performing arts. Five years ago, there were 41 fewer such teachers, while in September 2021, there were 20 more than now.
The number of teachers employed in higher vocational schools is also quite stable. In the current school year, there are 4,051 such teachers, 41 more than five years ago and 265 more than in the previous school year 2021/2022.
3,801 students attended conservatories and 20,609 attended vocational schools last autumn, according to the ministry’s data.
