They got into high school thanks to Avela project tutoring. Three students, three different paths with a successful outcome

High school entrance exams have been incredibly stressful and demanding in recent years—not only for the students themselves but also for their families. This situation is even more challenging for children and young people of Romani origin, who continue to face obstacles within the educational system. Yet sometimes, it doesn't take much: regular tutoring helps students better understand the curriculum and navigate the important milestones of their schooling. Three boys, Robert, Milan, and Sebastian, have just finished ninth grade and share with us the journey that led them to high school thanks to tutoring from the Avela project.

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"I went to a great elementary school. Both my brother and I were really happy there. Many kids from other schools transferred to ours because it’s a truly friendly environment. I looked forward to going there." Robert from Prague speaks positively about his school experience, fondly remembering his classmates and teachers. This also shows how different each student's experience can be. "I was determined that I definitely wanted to go to high school," he adds. He found out about the tutoring under the auspices of Slovo 21 through acquaintances, and it helped him primarily with the entrance exams for high school—specifically for the Security and Legal Activities program.

"I want to be a police officer or a criminal investigator. To serve and protect, exactly," he clarifies with a laugh. "During the tutoring, we focused mainly on the entrance exams. Without that, I absolutely wouldn't have made it, really, no way." He repeats the last sentence twice and smiles again.

Tutoring also helped Milan, also from Prague, who finished ninth grade this year as well. He’s wearing a brace at the start of the summer, so his vacation has been quiet so far. "I’m pretty much okay with it; I don't mind school. I have a neutral relationship with it." After the summer, just like Robert, he is starting high school. "I applied for the autotronics program, which is a track that leads to a graduation exam. It’s a transport school, and once I finish, the public transit company can hire me. I’m really interested in cars, so I’d love to work with them." The tutoring sessions focused primarily on the entrance tests and reviewing questions from previous years. "My parents are happy," he agrees. "I’m looking forward to it."

"I have a good relationship with school. I keep in mind that it’s preparing me for life, even if we often learn nonsensical things," says Sebastian from Písek, opening the conversation. However, his experience with elementary school was a bit different. "For the first few years, I didn't feel good at school. I didn't have many friends, and it was hard for me. Just because they saw a Romani kid and thought: Oh, he must be completely stupid. We only started hanging out later, maybe in the eighth grade. Because I showed everyone that I had a talent for languages, and I found a really great group of smart people." Like the other boys, Sebastian got into high school this year. "I applied for the Transport Operations and Economics program, which leads to a graduation exam. I went into it a bit blindly. Either I’ll enjoy it or I won't, but the main thing for me is getting that diploma."

"I kept pestering my mom: Mom, find me a tutor for math, I need it and I want it. Ever since my mom got it for me, I started arranging it myself. It would happen, for example, that she was just about to tell me: 'You have tutoring today, go.' But before she could even finish, I’d already grabbed my things and was on my way."

The tutoring helped Sebastian mainly with math, which he had struggled with in elementary school. "Remote learning had a big impact," he explains. "We were maybe a year behind and couldn't catch up. After the tutoring, my grades improved. I had D's and F's, and suddenly I was getting C's and B's."

We then say our goodbyes, wishing them a wonderful summer and success in their high school studies, but above all, wishing them luck in fulfilling all the dreams that the boys are hopefully a little bit closer to now.

The Avela project strives to help Romani children and youth discover how education can positively impact their lives. From September 1, 2024, to August 31, 2028, we are offering tutoring, mentoring, and a variety of extracurricular activities across the Czech Republic to support their development and broaden their horizons. We are building on the success of the Dža Dureder project, through which we helped over 1,000 students between 2003 and 2022, 150 of whom went on to attend university. We currently support 140 children in 18 locations throughout the Czech Republic.

This article was created as part of the Avela project, which is co-financed by the European Union.

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