State school-leaving exams begin at secondary schools across Czech Republic

Over 87,000 final year students at Czech secondary schools began taking their state school-leaving exams on Friday. The examination, which began with a math test, is scheduled to conclude on May 13. Students are required to take a test in the Czech language and literature and are free to choose between maths and a foreign language; some 64 percent opted for the language test, a vast majority of them choosing English, the news agency ČTK reported. Students also sit exams in two additional subjects. Unified school-leaving exams are taking place for the fourth year but the Education Ministry plans to make the system simpler and cheaper in the coming years.