Public administration in education is provided on several levels through state administration and territorial administration:

1. The central state administration body is the Ministry of Education, Research, Development, and Youth of the Slovak Republic (or the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic, Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic);
2. At the regional level, state administration is performed by regional offices of school administration and self-governing regions;
3. At the local level, it is the municipalities, and
4. At the institutional level is represented by schools and school facilities.
    

National level management

The scope, organisation, and tasks of the state administration bodies in education, municipalities, self-governing regions, and school administration bodies are governed by Act no. 596/2003 Coll on State Administration in the Education and School Self-government (Zákon č. 596/2003 Z.z. o štátnej správe v školstve a školskej samospráve).

The Ministry of Education, Research, Development, and Youth of the Slovak Republic

The central body of state administration in education is the Ministry of Education, Research, Development, and Youth of the Slovak Republic.

Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic. The Ministry operates based on Act No. 575/2001 Coll. on the organization of government activities and the organization of central state administration (zákon č. 575/2001 Z. z. organizácii činnosti vlády a organizácii ústrednej štátnej správy). The Ministry is a state budgetary organization whose revenues and expenditures are linked to the state budget. It is a legal entity and acts on its own behalf in legal relations. The Ministry is organized into sections, departments, divisions, and other organizational units. 

The Ministry is managed by the Minister of Education, who is responsible for its activities. In the Minister's absence, the State Secretary acts on his/her behalf within the scope of his/her rights and duties on the basis of a power of attorney. 
 

Main tasks of the ministry

As regards education in kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools and school facilities, the ministry provides:

• Management and legislation: It manages the performance of state administration in education, develops concepts for the development of education and training, drafts and issues legislation, and creates strategic and methodological documents for vocational education.
• Educational programmes and materials: It issues state educational programmes, framework curricula and educational standards. It also approves textbooks, vocational teaching texts and teaching materials.
• Administration and organisation: It administers a network of schools, school facilities and practical training workplaces. It sets rules for the selection and appointment of management positions in the department. It manages the experimental verification of processes and determines the system and content of study and teaching fields. It creates a system of financial and material support for students, including school meals.
• Qualifications and registers: It determines the rules for the accreditation of educational projects and organizations for the continuing education of teaching and professional staff. Maintains central registers of children, pupils, students, as well as pedagogical and other school staff.
• Funding and oversight: It funds regional education and oversees the use of funds. It sets standards for school equipment, collects data for the budget, and provides funding for schools established by churches or other legal entities or individuals. It provides funds for development projects and oversees school construction investments. It monitors the efficient use of public funds.
• Monitoring and supervision: Through the State School Inspectorate and the regional school office, it monitors the level of pedagogical management, education, training, and material and technical conditions. It monitors the results and development of education in international comparison.
• Support for participation: It announces and coordinates competitions for pupils, ensures their participation in international competitions and organises the selection of pupils for study abroad. 
    

As regards higher education institutions, the ministry provides:

• Development and strategy: It creates conditions for the development of higher education institutions and higher education, draws up long-term plans, and updates the annual report on the state of higher education every year.
• Funding and oversight: It develops a methodology for determining subsidies from the state budget, decides on limiting the number of students eligible for funding, and controls the management of public funds by higher education institutions. It also monitors compliance with legal regulations in the field of higher education.
• Accreditation and regulation: It proposes to the government the granting of state approval to private higher education institutions, registers selected internal regulations, grants authorisation to foreign higher education institutions and publishes a list of higher education institutions in Slovakia.
• Study programmes and recognition of education: It publishes and administers a system of study fields. It recognises educational documents issued by foreign higher education institutions and issues opinions on applications for recognition of education.
• Support and data management: It maintains a register of higher education institution employees and compiles information from the student register. It provides financial and material support for the activities of the Accreditation Commission and higher education institution representative bodies. It creates a system of social support, scholarships, and subsidies for the development of science, technology, and the arts. It also regulates the conditions for financial support for students abroad and foreigners in Slovakia.
   

As regards lifelong learning, the ministry

• implements the Strategy of Lifelong Learning and Counselling,
• performs accreditation of educational programmes in further education,
• sets rules and procedures for verifying and recognising results of further education focusing on acquiring partial or full qualification,
• creates the national qualification system,
• creates, uses, and makes accessible to the public the further education information system,
• creates the system of monitoring and predicting educational needs of further education,
• monitors compliance with accreditation requirements and requirements for granting the authorisation for holding examinations to verify the qualification,
• ensures participation of the Slovak Republic in EU educational programmes,
• provides funding for lifelong learning from the state budget and monitors the efficiency of the use of the resources from the state budget.
   

In the area of care for children and youth, the ministry provides:

• Management and strategy: It coordinates the activities of state and local government bodies, develops state policy for children and youth, and manages and supervises the performance of state administration in this area.
• Support for education: It creates legal and economic conditions for the development of youth work, supports the activities of legal entities and individuals, and develops concepts for the education of youth volunteers and people working with young people.
• Funding and oversight: It develops a methodology for providing subsidies and ensures the financing of care for children and youth from the state budget, while monitoring the effective use of these funds.
• Organization and cooperation: It provides methodological guidance for the activities of leisure centres and school interest centres, prepares documentation for their inclusion in the network of schools and school facilities, and cooperates with international organizations and non-governmental organizations such as the Slovak Youth Council (Rada mládeže Slovenska) and the Association of Youth Information Centres (Združenie informačných centier mladých).

To perform the task within its scope, the ministry founds and dismisses budgetary and contributory organisations.

State School Inspection

The State School Inspection (Štátna školská inšpekcia) was established in January 2000. It is a budgetary organisation and its organisation parts are school inspection centres. In its activity, it is independent, regulated by acts and other generally binding regulations. The State School Inspection is managed by the Chief School Inspector, who is appointed and removed by the Minister of Education after five years of office. The State School Inspection, being a body of State administration, monitors the level of pedagogical management, the level of education and training, and material-technical conditions, including practical lessons. In this area, it also settles complaints and petitions. As the only relevant body, it can definitively decide whether a school’s school education programme was created in compliance with the goals and principles of education according to the Education Act and the respective state educational programme.

More information on State School Inspection is in the chapter Quality assurance in pre-primary, primary and secondary education.

The Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic

The Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic founds police schools and fire safety schools as secondary vocational schools. Scope of powers in education and training at secondary vocational schools exercised by the Ministry of Education or other state administration bodies are exercised by the Ministry of Interior concerning police schools and fire safety schools.

Regional level management

Regional Offices of School Administration

The regional office founds and dismisses

• kindergartens for children with special educational needs,
• primary schools for pupils with special educational needs,
• secondary schools for pupils with special educational needs,
• practical schools,
• apprentice schools,
• special educational facilities,
• schools in which education and training take place in a foreign language based on an international agreement,
• school dormitories,
• counselling and prevention centres,
• specialised counselling and prevention centres,

If a municipality or a self-governing region cannot create conditions for children or pupils to attend education in kindergarten, primary school, or secondary school, these schools are founded by the regional office.

The regional office performs tasks in funding schools and school facilities, verifies the number of children or pupils in the starting school year, and other data necessary for the breakdown of funding, which is provided to the ministry by school founders, schools, or school facilities.

In relation to schools and school facilities that it founded, the regional office

• provides spaces and material and technical equipment,
• provides didactic technology used in the educational process,
• provides investment construction of schools and school facilities,
• provides meals to children and pupils of schools and school facilities,
• performs on-the-spot financial inspection of the management of funds allocated from the state budget and the general EU budget, inspection of the assets that it administers, and inspection of efficient and purposeful use of the assets,
• deals with complaints and petitions submitted by citizens and parents of children and pupils of schools and school facilities,
• creates conditions for the provision of social care for employees of schools and school facilities,
• administers the heads’ personnel agenda,
• provides legal counselling,
• cooperates with heads on staffing schools and school facilities,
• approves drafts of agreements on renting and leasing school’s or school facility’s buildings, rooms, and adjacent spaces.

The regional office provides professional counselling to municipalities, self-governing regions, founders of church schools and school facilities, founders of private schools and school facilities, and heads of schools and school facilities that it founded. The regional office performs other tasks in organisation of school competitions and performs financial control of the funding received by founders from the state budget.

The Self-Governing Region

The self-governing region in transferred performance of state administration

1. by a generally binding regulation founds and closes secondary schools according to the network,
2. defines the highest number of full-time first-grade pupils for each secondary school within its regional competence in compliance with the special regulation.

Self-governing regions have the following competences:

• Self-governing regions establish and close basic schools of arts, language schools (except those at basic schools), school dormitories, school catering facilities, school service centres, schools in nature, regional leisure centres and, in certain cases, kindergartens and basic schools (if they are part of the same legal entity as a secondary school).
• They monitor compliance with legal regulations in the area of school catering and the quality of meals served.
• They issue organizational guidelines for the heads of schools and school facilities that they establish and provide them with professional and legal assistance. They also manage the personnel agenda of the heads.
• They discuss important matters with the heads and the regional school board, such as the allocation of funds, school management, their development concept, and the introduction of new fields of study. They also perform tasks in the preparation of investment plans.
• They cooperate with municipalities, other self-governing regions, school self-government bodies, regional offices, and various organizations in providing accommodation for foreign lecturers and organizing competitions and subject-specific Olympiads for pupils. They also cooperate with social partners on issues of vocational education and training for young people.