The amendment to the road traffic act has already been approved, and it links the right to drive to school education. If your children attend a Slovak school or you plan for your child to get a driver's license here, understand the details in advance.
What exactly will change
From September 1, 2027, to obtain a category B driver's license, at least lower secondary education will be required. In practice, this means successfully completing the 9th grade of primary school (základná škola) or the fourth grade of an eight-year grammar school.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Lucia Kurilovská, explained: this actually means completing compulsory school education. According to her, it is in primary school that students gain skills without which responsible and safe behavior on the road is impossible.
How education will be confirmed
A driving license applicant will have to present a document of education to the driving school. Anything from the following list will be accepted:
- certificate of completion of primary school;
- school leaving certificate for any grade of secondary school;
- university degree;
- certificate of study at a secondary or higher education institution.
Therefore, only one situation will be an obstacle: a person has not completed nine grades at all and has no document about further studies.
Why is this happening at all
The initiator of the change is the Children's Ombudsman, Jozef Mikloško. The goal, he says, is twofold: to motivate children, especially from marginalized communities, to complete compulsory education and to increase road safety. As Refresher reports, the ombudsman calls a driver's license a "great lure and practical necessity for employment" for young people.
Hungary served as a model. A similar requirement is already in place there and, according to the initiators' estimates, has worked as a motivational factor.
The scale of the problem is evident from the statistics provided by Miroslav Zelina from the Pprom Social School Initiative (PRŠI). In a partner school in the village of Lomnička, 76 students completed their studies this academic year, but only 22 of them finished the 9th grade. The remaining 54 students left school in the 5th to 7th grades. Zelina denies that there is a lack of teachers or conditions in Roma schools: "Similar conditions exist, but there is a lack of will and motivation from outside." The Ministry of Interior plans to track the statistical effect of the amendment after its launch.
Theory first, then the wheel
Changing the education requirements is not the only news for future drivers. The new legislation will separate theoretical and practical training in driving schools: first, the student will pass the theoretical exam, and only after passing it successfully will they be allowed to attend practical driving lessons.
What this means for Ukrainian families
The new rules apply to those who will obtain a driver's license after September 1, 2027. Those who already have a license or manage to get one before this deadline are not affected by the changes.
For parents whose children attend a Slovak school, the conclusion is simple: interrupting studies before completing the 9th grade now means blocking the child's path to a driver's license. And along with it, the path to a number of professions where a license is required.
If a young person completed nine grades in Ukraine, clarify in advance with the chosen driving school how Ukrainian education documents will be recognized. Detailed mechanisms for recognizing foreign certificates have not yet been specified in public explanations.
