ONLY STUDENTS with an average grade of 2.0 or better, on a scale where 1 is excellent and 5 is failure, will be allowed to apply to study at gymnasiums beginning in September 2014, according to a proposal by the Education Ministry to amend the law on professional education that the cabinet forwarded to parliament on June 27, the SITA newswire reported.
The average grade will be based on grades recorded in compulsory subjects in the final two years of primary school.
The bill also proposes that to enter a secondary vocational school, students must have an average grade of at least 2.75, the SITA newswire reported.
The amendment also introduces compulsory entrance exams for secondary schools.
Currently, schools are free to decide whether they will use their own exams or accept students based on the nationwide testing of students in mathematics and the Slovak language.
Education Minister Dušan Čaplovič conceded that some secondary schools might close if the proposal is adopted by parliament.
He gave as an example the Turiec region in northern Slovakia where 792 pupils finished primary school but the secondary schools in the region have space for 1,420 students.
