The Diplomat
Last Tuesday, the Council of Ministers authorized the signing of the Treaty between the Czech Republic and Spain to strengthen the teaching of Spanish and subjects taught in our language in the high schools of the Central European country.
By means of this agreement, signed by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and the Spanish Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, it is intended to give “complete coverage” to the program of bilingual sections in the Czech Republic, which began in 1990 under the Treaty of cultural cooperation between Spain and the then Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia, according to the Executive.
Since then, the Ministries of Education of both countries have collaborated, through the aforementioned program, in the promotion and dissemination of Spanish language and culture in public secondary schools through the training of bilingual students or those with a high level of knowledge of Spanish language and culture. The result is the creation of a network of academic excellence of which six schools are currently members.
Under the new agreement, the Spanish Ministry of Education undertakes to guarantee an annual call for applications to fill the required number of Spanish teaching positions, and that the selected teachers will be granted an annual allowance for transportation and a monthly allowance to compensate for their remuneration, in accordance with the available budget. For its part, the Czech Ministry undertakes that the teachers will be provided with accommodation for the duration of their employment contract and to guarantee the conditions for the institutes to receive financial support per month and per Spanish teacher employed.
Provision is also made for the baccalaureate examination, which will be held in accordance with the legal regulations of the Czech Republic. Students in bilingual sections will receive a Baccalaureate Examination Certificate, which will contain a list of the subjects assessed in Czech and Spanish. The Spanish Ministry of Education and Vocational Training will ensure that students who receive such a certificate will obtain a general baccalaureate degree which will give them access to Spanish universities.
The priorities of the Bilingual Sections Program of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training coincide with the objectives of the State’s foreign educational action, as set out in the 2014 Law on State Action and Foreign Service. Apart from this, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, in execution of the provisions of the aforementioned law, is competent to promote multilingualism and teacher mobility within the framework of programs to support foreign educational systems for the teaching of Spanish language and culture.
