Our battle

They probably stopped thinking about it a long time ago, but it's back to haunt you. For the parents of 90,000 Czech children entering first grade, it's the beginning of a busy month that will bring not only joyful anticipation, but also gnawing doubt.

It doesn't apply to all parents. This year marks the start of the long-awaited school reform, and since last spring, some parents have come to expect only the best. Let's hope their enthusiasm lasts. But in their search for the best school, many parents have become disgruntled.

Thirty-year-olds today have lived in a free country for quite a long time now, and entering the tiled halls of school buildings revives in them unpleasant memories. Stressful mornings, the jarring sound of the school bell, mandatory changing into slippers, an endless list of restrictions, boredom, the nervous commands of teachers and the nausea-inducing smells emanating from school cafeterias.

It might sound like melodramatic whining, but even after all these years, not much has changed, and parents have every reason to be sceptical. It's enough just to look at how difficult it is to find places in suitable schools, where children spend a third of their time during eight years of their lives.

In Prague, the number of schools that offer something interesting (alternative teaching methods, different school hours, more innovative evaluation methods, extended language instruction)…