New building of Prague school for children with behavioral disorders opens in Zlíchov

A new building of a primary school for children with specific behavioral disorders has opened in Prague's Zlíchov district. According to city officials, the building is fully barrier-free — unlike the former first-stage building, which people with limited mobility could not access at all.

The new building includes school workshops and a modern gym designed for pupils of both stages of the school — previously, the institution had no proper gym at all, only a small training room. The capacity of the school's first stage has been increased from 50 to 120 pupils, said city education councillor Vít Klecanda.

"Children with specific behavioral disorders need an environment tailored to their particular needs — calm, clear and professionally organized. That's exactly what the new building in Zlíchov provides. Expanding capacity is a crucial step at a time when demand for specialized education has long outstripped supply," Klecanda noted.

What the school itself says

Helena Hajnová, headmistress of the primary school for children with specific behavioral disorders, admitted that she and her pupils had been waiting for this day. "Our children are moving into a modern environment after learning until now in small, cramped rooms. They need special and demanding care — which is difficult for both the children and the teachers. The construction process was challenging, and I'm grateful to the teachers who kept holding classes under such limited conditions the whole time," she said.

According to her, the building now has a genuinely spacious gym instead of the old cramped exercise room, and all classrooms in the new building are equipped with interactive whiteboards — finally allowing the school to move toward modern teaching methods.

Next up: renovation of the old building

Completing the new building's construction is only the first stage of the project. Prague is now starting the renovation of the existing first-stage school building, which will house not only specialized classrooms but also modern counseling centers for children with behavioral disorders and their families.

All parts of the school will be connected by a linking corridor on the corresponding floors, providing a barrier-free connection between the new building and the old one — meaning the old building will also become accessible to people with limited mobility. In the next stage, a new sports ground for pupils' recreational activities is planned.

"The new building takes the quality of the school's infrastructure to a new level, and the upcoming renovation of the old building will complete this transformation. Among the priorities for further work are a new canteen and keeping the school running as smoothly as possible during construction," said David Zícha, division director and chief site manager at construction company KONSIT.

Expanding the network of special schools

Councillor Klecanda recalled that during the current electoral term, the city has not neglected any segment of education: more than 15 kindergartens have been opened or expanded, three new primary schools have been built, 12 primary schools have received extensions, two new secondary schools have opened along with dozens of secondary school extensions, and another special school has recently been expanded.

He said that during enrollment for special schools, every child registered by parents was offered a place. Nevertheless, the city intends to keep increasing the capacity of such schools, as the number of children requiring a special approach continues to grow.

"We are negotiating with the hygiene station about exchanging some buildings that used to be schools, in order to gain new premises for special schools. If this works out, we'll be able to increase capacity very quickly," Klecanda added, specifying that the discussion involves three buildings that were used as schools until as late as the 1990s.

Around Prague, based on reporting by prazskypatriot.cz