Political situation
The recent government was established on the basis of the elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic which were held in October 2021; the governemnt was appointed in December 2021. The government consists of the SPOLU coalition (ODS, KDU-ČSL and TOP 09) with the Pirates and STAN coalition (Piráti a STAN). The Prime Minister is Petr Fiala (SPOLU, ODS).
In the area of education, youth and sports the government committed itself – among others – to maintain a quality financial evaluation of pedagogical staff, introducing a system of teachers´ professional development and other tools of professional support, or elaboration of a reform of undergraduate teacher education and training. Further adjustments to the framework educational programmes are planned, with particular emphasis on reducing the overall volume of curriculum and developing literacies. The government also plans to actively address regional disparities in the quality of education through targeted support for disadvantaged regions. In the field of higher education, the government has introduced a new position of Minister for Science, Research and Innovation. For example, support for professionally oriented study programmes, digitization of processes and administration, or reform of doctoral studies are planned.
For more precise information, see the Policy Statement of the Government of the Czech Republic.
Economic situation
The Czech Republic is a country with a developed export-oriented market economy. The main industries include the chemical industry, engineering, food processing and the metallurgical industry. From the above, the most important for export is the automobile industry.
The year 2021, like the previous year, was hit by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Although the economy restarted in 2021 (gross domestic product grew by 3.6% year on year in 2021 and industrial production increased by 6.4%), the national economy has to cope with high inflation and rising prices. The average inflation rate in 2021 was 3.8%, which is 0.6 percentage points more than in 2020 (this was the highest average annual inflation rate since 2008). In January 2022, consumer prices rose by almost 10% compared to last January. This is the most since July 1998 (at that time, year-on-year price growth reached 10.4%). Housing prices had the greatest impact on the growth in consumer prices, especially the rise in prices of energy, food and fuel. However, prices rose for almost all items in the consumer basket.
59.4 % of inhabitants aged 15+ and 77.1 % aged 15–64 are economically active (data forAugust 2020). With increasing educational attainment the age of entrance into employment is raising; however, the retirement age is shifting to higher figures as well. In 2020, the employment rate of the age group 15+ was 58.3 %, it slightly decreased year-on– year. In the long term the proportion of people working in agriculture has decreased while the number working in industry and services has risen.
The unemployment rate of the age group 15+ was 2.6 % (2020), in the 4th quarter of 2021 it slightly decreased to 2.2 %. The unemployment rate shows big regional differences, and, in general, it is strongly influenced by age, sex and the level of education achieved.
In 2020 the share of expenditure on education to GDP was 4.6 %. Despite of increase in recent years, it is still relatively low in comparison with other European countries. For funding of education see the Chapter 3 on Funding in Education.
Source: Websites of the Czech Statistical Office
Gross domestic product and total public expenditure on education in 2010 – 2020 (in billions CZK and EUR)
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GDP in billions CZK, current prices (seasonally adjusted) (in billions EUR) | 3992.9 (153.5) | 4062.3 (156.1) | 4088.9 (157.1) | 4142.8 (159.2) | 4345.8 (167.0) | 4625.4 (177.8) | 4767.9 (183.2) | 5110.7 (196.4) | 5408.8 (207.9) | 5748.7 (220.9) | 5650.1 (221.8) |
| Public educational expenditure in billions CZK, current prices (in billions EUR) | 152.7 (5.9) | 156.0 (6.0) | 154.6 (5.9) | 155.4 (6.0) | 160.9 (6.2) | 166.2 (6.4) | 162.2 (6.2) | 181.6 (7.0) | 221.5 (8.5) | 247.9 (9.5) | 262.3 (10.3) |
| Educational expenditure relative to GDP in % | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.6 |
| Consumer price index (100=2015) | 93.0 | 94.8 | 97.9 | 99.3 | 99.7 | 100.0 | 100.7 | 103.1 | 105.3 | 108.3 | 111.8 |
| Year-on-year inflation | 1.5 % | 1.9 % | 3.3 % | 1.4 % | 0.4 % | 0.3 % | 0.7 % | 2.5 % | 2.1 % | 2.8 % | 3.2 % |
Note: EUR/CZK 25.465 – 1 March 2022 (European Central Bank).
Source: Yearbook of Trends. Education in the Czech Republic 2010/11-2020/21
Education attainment by age groups
Percentage of the population that has attained a specific level of education by age group in %
| Age group | Upper secondary education1) | Tertiary education2) | At least upper secondary education3) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 2020 | 2007 | 2020 | 2007 | 2020 | |
| 25–64 | 77 | 69 | 14 | 25 | 91 | 94 |
| 25–34 | 79 | 59 | 16 | 33 | 94 | 92 |
| 35–44 | 70 | 66 | 14 | 29 | 94 | 95 |
| 45–54 | 74 | 76 | 14 | 19 | 89 | 95 |
| 55–64 | 74 | 75 | 11 | 18 | 85 | 93 |
1) ISCED 3-4.
2) ISCED 5-8 (tertiary professional education at a conservatoire (with graduate examination) (vyšší odborné vzdělání v konzervatoři) – ISCED 550, tertiary professional education (vyšší odborné vzdělání) – ISCED 655, and higher education – ISCED 645, ISCED 746, ISCED 8).
3) ISCED 3-8 (at least ISCED 3, i.e. upper secondary education with the VET certificate (výuční list) or upper secondary education with the Maturita examination (maturitní zkouška)).
Source: Eurostat Database