ROMEA's scholarship program shows once more how important support for Romani youth to study is in the Czech Republic

The evidence is our scholarship recipients’ excellent grades on report cards, successfully completed matriculation examinations and acceptance letters from universities. For the 2022/2023 academic year, ROMEA provided scholarships to 81 students and their results speak for themselves.

“I’m quite glad our scholarship recipients are succeeding. It’s evidence for how necessary this program is. Every year we are able to support 80-90 students at secondary schools, technical colleges and universities, but we usually have twice as many applicants. It is important that Romani students receive support and I personally perceive the education of Romani people to be our strongest weapon against discrimination,” says Štefan Balog, manager of ROMEA’s scholarship program.

Top grades across all subjects are no exception

Simona Soloninková, who is studying at the secondary technical school for social work in Prague and who interned at the ROMEA organization this year, is receiving a scholarship for a third year in a row. She is a very diligent student who is also interested in creative writing, enjoys communicating with people and has mastered sign language.

Soloninková received the highest possible grade in every subject at the end of this semester, just as she did at the end of the fall semester. She is one of the top students in the scholarship program, as is Daniela Kokyová, who has successfully graduated from secondary school this year and is continuing at Brno’s Technical University.

Newcomers in interesting fields

One of the newcomers to the scholarship program is Sofie Černohorská, who successfully completed her second year in the field of Applied Chemistry (Forensic Analysis) at the Industrial Secondary School in Dvůr Králové nad Labem. Another newcomer who has just successfully completed the academic year and is continuing his studies is Miroslav Bílý, who studies Information Technology at the Secondary School of Informatics and Financial Services in Plzeň.

Viktorie Mirgová has just successfully completed another year at the Lyceum for Pedagogy, while Marian Šandor has proceeded to the next year in the field of Autotronics. “Each year more and more interesting fields of study appear among the applications. It’s brilliant to see that the number of fields in which Romani youth are studying is expanding every year,” says Vanesa Harvanová, who coordinates the educational activities at ROMEA.

This is annually documented by the higher numbers of Romani students applying to study law, medicine, or at the technical faculties of universities. “Teaching, economics, nursing, law, medicine, architecture, chemistry, art history, geography, automization. That’s just a small sample of our scholarship recipients’ fields. I am overjoyed that the spectrum of fields is wider and that these students will therefore be able to apply themselves in many different branches of endeavor,” Balog says.

Art at a high level

Art school students were also among this year’s scholarship recipients. The newcomers include Klaudie Kuchárová, a student of popular song at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague, who is successfully following in the footsteps of her older sister Natálie.

Marek Sendecký, a scholarship recipient this year, is studying acting and has already given a beautiful performance in more than one role in a theatrical production of Karel Jaromír Erben‘s Kytice [Bouquet]. Last but not least there is David Kandráč, a phenomenal musician who graduated from the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava and established the community center for music, Gitano Drom.

Graduates with the potential to change the world

Without a doubt, one of the most distinctive graduates in ROMEA’s scholarship program is Robin Štrobach, who recently picked up his master’s degree. The graduate of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem produced a thesis about the discrimination of Romani people on the housing market.

Štrobach’s thesis was assessed quite positively. In the past, his bachelor’s thesis on a similar topic has even been quoted by the European Commission.

Both the Albatros Foundation and ROMEA have given support to this young man, who is on his way to a brilliant career. Another graduate is the above-mentioned Natálie Kuchárová, who has graduated from the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague and is heading to university to study English and Music.

Danisa Hamáčková, who has chosen to study Crime Prevention at university, also deserves a mention. Michaela Makulová has successfully graduated from North Bohemian High School with a focus on Pre-Primary and Informal Pedagogy and has applied to Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem.

In 2022/2023 the organization supported a total of 81 scholarships: 50 high school students, six students of technical colleges and 25 university students. There were 25 new scholarship recipients among the high school students this year and 25 repeat recipients.

All nine scholarship recipients attending the final year of high school passed their exit examinations and for the time being we know of five who have been accepted to university. “Our fingers are crossed for the others, we hope their entrance examinations turn out well. Three students of technical training colleges have completed their studies with a conservatory diploma, and a total of four university students have earned the titles of Bc., Mgr. or Ing.,” Balog says.

The scholarship recipients and others sponsored by the ROMEA organization are able to study thanks to the lasting support for this program both from foundations and from the ordinary people who contribute through the Darujme.cz portal. Romani youth will one day occupy positions in the future which will be just as important as those held by non-Roma thanks to this support.