This is the single most common question we get from international families, and the answer decides how the whole preparation is built. The rule sits in the School Act No. 561/2004 Coll., Section 20, paragraphs 4 and 5.
Who can ask for the waiver
- Option A: your child attends a school outside the Czech Republic in the year of application and was schooled abroad for at least one of the three previous school years.
- Option B: your child was schooled abroad for at least two of the three previous school years.
The request is part of the application, so it is not something you arrange afterwards. The head teacher of the school decides.
What the waiver does not cover
Only the Czech language test is waived. Mathematics is part of the unified exam for everyone, in Czech, and your child sits it like every other applicant. That is worth planning for: the maths wording uses vocabulary that a child who has studied in English does not necessarily know, even when the mathematics itself is easy for them.
Time spent at an international school located in the Czech Republic does not count as schooling abroad. The law speaks about schools outside the country. If your situation is borderline, ask the school before you apply.
What replaces the test
The school still has to be sure your child can study in Czech. Instead of the written test it checks the language in an interview. In practice this means your child talks about themselves, their reasons for choosing the school and sometimes about a text they are given. The bar differs from school to school.
So the waiver does not remove Czech from the preparation. It changes what the preparation is for: not a written test under time pressure, but a conversation the child has to hold.
How the points are then counted
When the Czech test is waived, the school recalculates the ranking without it, using the rules it published in January. Read the criteria of every school on your list, because they differ, and the same result can place your child differently at two schools.
AuthorZdeněk VlčekZakladatel, analýza a metodika