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"I expect the amount to be five to seven billion crowns, and I will of course claim it in the budget process," Plaga said after taking office.
The previous Minister of Education, Bek, stated in the ministry's draft budget that it was short of almost seven billion crowns. "I appreciate that the ministry fairly admitted this in its own document, because I don't have to look it up," Plaga commented after a short meeting with the now former Minister, Bek.
The new minister is clear about the finances for universities, which could see a budget increase of 1.2 billion crowns to co-finance large investment projects. Right from the start of his term, he also wants to focus on preparing a completely new higher education law that should clarify the responsibilities of university management.
"I promised to look into the revision of the framework educational programs, i.e. the content of education. A clear signal must be given to schools as to how it will be and whether it is ready for the start on September 1, 2027, so that they have enough time to prepare," Plaga outlined. He previously told Novinky that they must decide by June 30, 2026 whether to shift teaching according to the new framework educational programs or otherwise change it.
Schoolchildren will wait for some changes
Although he wants to start working on the changes first, many of them need to be prepared and tested before they can be put into practice. This applies, for example, to changes to the entrance exams for secondary schools, which, according to the new government's plan, should precede the submission of applications. Admissions to four-year fields would thus take place at primary schools, and only after the results are published would children choose a school.
"It's not something that has to be done within a year, because it affects a lot of children and of course it is necessary to have these matters dealt with legislatively and also tested before we put them into full operation," the minister explained. Realistically, the first ninth-graders could take the exams before submitting applications in 2028 at the earliest.
The new head of education will also be responsible for resolving the protracted problem surrounding the construction of the Charles University campus in Prague's Albertov. Due to delays in the work, the university will not be able to draw the full amount of money from European sources and will likely lose billions of crowns to complete the project.
According to Plaga, the handover of the ministry itself took place correctly, although the current and former ministers also discussed topics on which they disagreed, such as the transfer of funding for non-teaching staff to municipalities and regions. Bek subsequently wished his successors "success and courage to do what is necessary, not (only) what is applauded today" on the social network X.