Education in Slovakia is compulsory for children from 6 to 15 years of age. There are eight grades of primary school. The ninth year is either spent in a secondary school, or in cases where children are not accepted into the secondary school of their choice, they can remain an additional year in primary school. The overwhelming majority of primary schools are state run or financed (2,401).

The rest are church schools (81) or private schools (1). There is a slightly higher percentage of church and private schools at the secondary and vocational levels. Only the top 50 percent of university candidates are accepted. Universities are all public and admission is free, although there are minimal fees for course materials, accommodation and food.

Education, training, and the school system ranked as the top problem areas in all interviews conducted for this report. The one statement encountered repeatedly in the interviews was that the cardinal problem for the young generation is the disintegration of the value system, the vacuum and chaos in values, the absence of role models, and so forth. Role models currently offered by "elite" groups are models of aggressive and confrontational behavior.

The Slovak education system, like the public health sector, is threatened with financial collapse. Nonetheless, respondents have been emphasizing problems outside the area of funding. They feel that the primary need is to nurture civic culture, education for democratic values, constitutional principles, and human rights.

Given the daunting geopolitical context, the most pressing issues are those of multicultural tolerance and education against hatred and violence. The events of recent years have revealed the dramatic potential of the loss of cultural and historic roots. Young people who are detached from tradition and lack their own historic experiences are the most easily influenced by nationalist views based on one-sided or misleading interpretations of history that were taboo under Communism. This is occurring against the backdrop of the experience of Slovaks who, historically, have coexisted peacefully in a multicultural environment.

One initiative frequently recommended to promote education for ethnic tolerance involves long-term exchange schemes through which children spend time with families abroad. Such schemes, traditionally common in Europe, are no longer customary among Slovaks. A rekindling of the tradition might also contribute to the resolution of another pressing problem: training in foreign languages. However, exchange programs for adolescents are now met with resistance in the European Union because of problems with immigration.

The quality of teaching in foreign languages in the former Czechoslovakia was probably the poorest among all the countries in Communist Eastern Europe. According to official statistics, at least 50 percent of the training offered in this area is now mostly carried out by nonqualified teachers (Institute of Information and Prognosis of the Ministry of Education and Science). There are few qualified teachers in public education; and even those few, attracted by better pay, are leaving for the private sector to seek careers either in adult education, or in professions in which they can use their linguistic skills. Universities are not able to train language teachers in adequate numbers. In Slovakia proficiency in foreign languages is more than just a means of communication. It also represents a way of expanding cultural horizons and of eliminating a sense of inferiority. Surveys have long indicated a correlation between proficiency in at least one of the world's major languages and a positive value system (C.S.A., FOCUS, 1990-1994).

The emerging market economy in Slovakia has encountered a population unprepared for entrepreneurship and lacking managerial skills. To ensure that these are promoted from childhood is another perceived need. Several interesting projects have been implemented to address these needs, including the projects of NGOs, for example, the Information, Culture, and Management Foundation (IFO) and Movement "Human." However, such projects seldom focus on another important element: education for solidarity and socially beneficial behavior.

The situation in sex education borders on total ignorance (see "Health"). A lively debate on sex education was taking place in schools even before 1989. Under the banner of religious fundamentalism, the resistance to the introduction of sex education to the upper grades in primary schools and to secondary schools was potent after the 1989 revolution. Such resistance is particularly strong in rural areas, where the Church commands far more influence than it does in the cities. The education system is clearly not focused on instilling self-reliance, responsibility for one's own life, self-confidence and self-awareness. Another frequently highlighted problem area is education on the environment (see "The Environment").

The projects undertaken or supported by Milan Simecka Foundation, Open Society Fund, PHARE, and Tree of Life are generally considered the most efficient in terms of the positive development of education. At the other extreme is a notorious experiment involving the introduction in schools of the subject of "ethics." Initially, the subject was conceived as a way to address the issues of responsibility, self-reliance and self-awareness. Many people seriously doubt that this compulsory subject in the curriculum will be able to fulfill this function unless the entire education system is restructured on the basis of the values of democracy and humanism. Instead, ethics was introduced abruptly on September 1, 1993, without adequate training of teachers or the preparation of textbooks and teaching aids. In an attempt to offset these problems, some teachers began using a Dutch textbook which understandably is not appropriate to the level of knowledge and the acquired values of children in a former Communist country. In most cases, however, the subject is being taught in very formal fashion, causing the children to perceive ethics as only a formal notion.

Despite the undeniable significance of NGOs in education and training, the formal school system and the training of teachers remain crucial. Here again, survey respondents have been almost unanimous: they feel that schools have changed hardly at all since the collapse of Communism. Indeed, the most obvious change is a physical deterioration. The school reform prepared prior to 1992 under Minister of Education and Science Jan Pisut has been abandoned. However, according to a widely held view, no reform will be effective unless teachers themselves change.

This also means that the burden in education of the heritage of Communism needs to be overcome. In the past, the process of selecting among applicants for teachers colleges and education departments at universities was very closely monitored. Complying with the principles of Communist education was an extremely important precondition for qualification for the teaching profession.7 Historically, the status of teachers is relatively low as reflected in poor salaries. During the communist regime, it was generally accepted that male heads of household should receive higher wages than women and consequently almost all teachers were female. A lack of male role models in schools has been a factor in the spread of social pathologies among young people, especially given that, in 90 percent of all broken and one-parent families, the father has left (9.2 percent of all families in Slovakia are broken ones).

Authoritarian strategies have become prevalent in the education system. Schools do not provide sufficient space for the child's development. Instead, formal approaches are emphasized. A child's initiative is discouraged, and its individuality is not recognized.

Pupils are overburdened because of the long teaching hours and the strict homework requirements. Their acquisition of knowledge is hindered because textbooks are not effective didactic tools; they are packed with information and are too abstract. It is also hindered because of the stress connected with the regular reliance on testing and the other methods of evaluating pupils that are applied early on even in the lowest grades.

Schools are oriented toward knowledge reproduction rather than the promotion of the creative and analytical potential of pupils. Training imposes the greatest burden on the ability of pupils to "calculate," the ability to ensure swift and error-free performance. On the other hand, qualitative criteria remain in the background. This results in the frequent failure of pupils with average or above average aptitude.

Surveys of the attitudes of teachers vis-à-vis creative pupils reveal that teachers think highly of those characteristics of their pupils that ensure problem-free teacher-pupil relationships, but are less important in terms of creativity, namely, being friendly, well-behaved, sincere and so on (Sources: Researches of the Institute of Information and Prognosis of the Ministry of Education and Science). In contrast, teachers largely view as undesirable the traits which are often attributed to creative personalities, such as originality, independence and daring.

Most teachers appear to be unprepared to use alternative methods in their work. The teaching profession is often described by teachers as repetitive and devoid of creative elements. The current education system does not encourage the application of methods which emphasize perceptions of life representative of the 20th century. The implementation of alternative approaches in publicly funded schools is met with administrative barriers which resemble those raised against the establishment and operation of private schools. Officials tend to view private schools as a means of generating quick profits for their owners, though this is, of course, far from being true. Schools established through foreign initiatives have the best relative chance of succeeding. The obstacles notwithstanding, a number of schools employing alternative teaching methods has appeared. Moreover, students in education are showing an interest in gaining practical experience in this type of school.

The leaders and founders of such schools are so involved with overcoming administrative and financial barriers that they have no time or energy left to seek out and communicate with the creators of relevant projects. They regard this as a major problem and feel the need for networking, the exchange of information, and the opportunity to realize common interests.

Many people see a solution in changing the way teachers are trained. New curriculums should be followed at teachers colleges, and more attention should be paid to psychology and didactic methods. Special criteria should also be prepared for future students. Such approaches might prove useful in the long run.

Likewise, teachers cannot be replaced overnight. Teacher education and training projects, exchange schemes with foreign counterparts and opportunities to become acquainted with alternative teaching methods are frequently endorsed. On the other hand, exchange schemes involving foreign teachers are hindered by the language barrier.

Other significant problems are growing unemployment among teachers in the provinces and a shortage of teachers in Bratislava caused by the greater availability of more lucrative jobs. This last problem is aggravated by a housing shortage and the often prohibitively expensive rents in Bratislava.

Note: This section is largely based on observations made by Edita Bauerova, David Daniel, Ludovit Dobsovic, Vladimir Dockal, Sona Donovalova, Vladimira Filova, Tereza Grellova, Jozef Jabol, Katarína Kostalova, Oto Makys, Peter Marianek, Gustav Matijek, Sasa Petrovicka, Jaroslav Poliach, Jozef Sabo, Katarína Teplanova, Milan Valica and Peter Zajac, as well as on the discussions within the framework of the workshop-conference on "Education, Culture and Leisure Time" held at Stupava.