Czech sociologist finds correlation between debtors under collections proceedings and children failing school

Public broadcaster Czech Radio Plus has dedicated a special program to the different levels of school performance throughout the Czech Republic. The worst academic results in the country are recorded in the Karlovy Vary and Ústecký Regions, while the best results are achieved in Prague and the South Moravian Region.

Why is that? Are the schools even a subject of interest to politicians?

In the Karlovy Vary and Ústecký Regions, about 17 % of high school students drop out and many children never even complete the ninth grade, warns sociologist Daniel Prokop, the establisher of the PAQ Research company. "The best indicator for predicting educational failure is the prevalence of collections proceedings. That fact is awfully destabilizing to a family: they have to move around a lot, they live in stress," he explains.

More positive developments in the schools are being prevented by a lack of qualified teachers or members of the helping professions, such as school psychologists. Poor strategic planning is also associated with this.

"The Karlovy Vary Region, in 2019, drafted a strategy on the basis of the then-current demand for education," Prokop said, explaining that the region did not project into the long term and did not take into consideration the development of different fields and how they would be applied in the future. "We are planning according to the past, and that is a problem."

Educational failure is reflected in other areas. Children who fail to complete high school, according to academic studies of the issue, end up costing the state a lot of money.

"[High school dropouts] are most frequently jobless and poor, because of that you're also more frequently ill, and you thereby overwhelm the health care system. Higher costs to the justice system, the prison system, etc., also flow [from underachievement]," Prokop said.