Hi I'm a Ukrainian citizen living in Kiev, my son is 5.5 years old. I'm thinking of moving to Prague to work and live there. Can you give me some hint on how difficult it may prove for me (a single mother) to raise a child in Prague? I mean, what salary I should get in order to be able to rent a flat, pay for my son's school and for the babysitter, buy food, cloths, etc. Also, are there any childcare agencies in Prague and what are the fees? How expensive the schools are? Etc Any advice would be very appreciated Regards Valja
State schools are free, as long as your son can speak Czech. What if he does not, I do not know. If you think of private schools, the prices may vary - from thousands to tens of thousands crowns per year. I would not recommend Prague if you are looking for inexpensive life. Prague is more expensive than the rest of the country, but of course, the salaries are higher as well. The most important point that I see is your qualification. Unless you are well educated and able to find a well paid job, it is difficult to be a single mother even if you are local and have family to support you (but I think you know this). Babysitting is not very common here, I think, so I am not aware of prices. But it does exist. Also, school kids can usually stay at school in a special toy-room till afternoon if they need to. As for the flat renting, there is a basic problem called "regulated rent". Our government regulates the rent in many flats, so they are quite cheap to rent, and the others are logically much more expensive than they would be if there were no regulation at all. The problem is, that the regulated rent is bound to a certain person (or its family). So if you find such flat to rent, it would most usually be illegal (the person must "live" there officially, so they cannot give you a legal contract). And if you don't, only the too expensive flats remain.
