Editing Slovakia (section)

=== Education ===
{{Main|Education in Slovakia}}
[[File:Univerzita Komenského.jpg|thumb|left|[[Comenius University in Bratislava|Comenius University]] headquarters in [[Bratislava]]]]

The [[Programme for International Student Assessment]], coordinated by the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]], currently ranks [[education in Slovakia|Slovak secondary education]] the 30th in the world (placing it just below the United States and just above Spain).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/8/39700724.pdf |title=Range of rank on the PISA 2006 science scale at OECD |access-date=16 October 2010 |archive-date=29 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229020307/http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/8/39700724.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
Education in Slovakia is compulsory from age 6 to 16. The education system consists of elementary school which is divided into two parts, the first grade (age 6–10) and the second grade (age 10–15) which is finished by taking nationwide testing called Monitor, in Slovak and math. Parents may apply for social assistance for a child that is studying on an elementary school or a high-school. If approved, the state provides basic study necessities for the child. Schools provide books to all their students with usual exceptions of books for studying a foreign language and books which require taking notes in them, which are mostly present in the first grade of elementary school.

After finishing elementary school, students are obliged to take one year in high school.

After finishing high school, students can go to university and are highly encouraged to do so. Slovakia has a wide range of universities. The biggest university is [[Comenius University]], established in 1919. Although it is not the first university ever established on Slovak territory, it is the oldest university that is still running. Most universities in Slovakia are public funded, where anyone can apply. Every citizen has a right to free education in public schools.

Slovakia has several privately funded universities, however public universities consistently score better in the ranking than their private counterparts. Universities have different criteria for accepting students. Anyone can apply to any number of universities.