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If a six year old child is not capable to attend primary school, the competent state administration education authority will decide on including such child in the zero level (pre-school) of a primary school or on postponement of the compulsory school attendance until the next school year.

Compulsory school attendance takes 10 years and lasts until the end of the school year during which the pupil reached 16 years of age, unless the law provides otherwise. In case of children in special primary schools, the start of compulsory school attendance depends on their ‘education maturity’ and the compulsory school attendance ends when conditions  for compulsory education have been fulfilled.

Beginning of the school attendance postponement

Postponement of the beginning of school attendance may be allowed in a concrete case based on the child’s legal representative (mostly a parent) application or a recommendation of a paediatrician, a specialist advisory centre or a recommendation of  a pre-school facility principal (if the child attends such  facility), always with consent of the child´s legal representative or parent.

If insufficient physical or mental capacity for school attendance is observed during the first semester of the first grade, a state administration education authority may additionally postpone the child’s compulsory school attendance until the next school year based on the school principal’s suggestion and after negotiation with the child’s legal representatives.

Duties of a child’s legal representative

A child’s legal representative, a foster parent, an individual or an institution legally responsible for the child is obliged to enrol the child (this includes also foreign minors in Slovakia) to a school and to make sure the child duly attends the school; he/she is also obliged to give his/her opinion regarding the child’s application to secondary school. If he/she enrols the child for a school club, he/she is obliged to ensure the child attends it in a regular and timely manner.