"I am glad that we managed to agree with Foxconn as major employer on the annual cooperation, which helps the city with the integration of children from foreign families in our schools, in addition to the schools themselves can determine what equipment they will buy for children. The aim of the cooperation is to facilitate the teaching of the Czech language as much as possible for foreign students, knowledge of the language is the absolute basis, and it will also be easier for children to teach other subjects, " informs Deputy Mayor responsible for education Jakub Rychtecký adding the fact that the city invested hundreds of millions of crowns into equipment of special classrooms, connectivity and accessibility solutions in schools.
Five primary schools were already donated CZK 150,000 (USD 7 000) crowns last year. At that time, Erno Košťála Primary School, Závod míru Primary School, Benešovo náměstí Primary School, Bratranců Veverkových Primary School and Štefánikova Primary School, bought tablets with translators, didactic games, dictionaries and speech therapy equipment. "This year, a sponsorship gift in the total amount of CZK 180,000 (USD 8 000) goes to the following Primary Schools: Prodloužená, npor. Eliáše, Staňkova, Spořilov, Družstevní and Ohrazenice, which can now expand their base of teaching equipments with other modern equipment, "explains Pavel Kožený from Foxconn. For example, Prodloužená Primary School and Ohrazenice Primary School set aside this money to buy tablets, at Spořilov Primary School, thanks to the donation, students will be able to learn from new dictionaries, at Družstevní Elementary School from new textbooks and at Staňkova Primary School, a small library for foreigners was created, containing workbooks, books or specialised literature in foreign languages. "From a financial donation, we bought a new interactive board, which greatly facilitates the teaching of the Czech language, but also has a wider use in other subjects taught for all students," says František Němec, director of the npor. Eliáše Primary School.
In addition to cooperation with Foxconn, the city received a grant from the program of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic to support the integration of foreigners locally in the project Support for Integration of Foreigners – Pardubice 2021, thanks to which schools will have the necessary funds to provide foreign children the necessary more intensive teaching of the Czech language. “The donation is provided from the state budget of the Czech Republic, and this donation program covers 90 percent of the total amount of the project, the remaining 10 percent is paid from the city budget. The total amount of project funding for 2021 is CZK 1,872,000, with the project running from January to December, with the exception of the main holidays. The city has been applying for a donation for the fourth year in a row, always for schools selected according to the highest number of foreigners in a given school year, " adds Olga Havlíková, head of the education department at the Pardubice municipality, stating that the city wants to support, above all with grant money, class teachers of foreign children who, after teaching, are dedicated to the integration of children, tutoring and teaching the Czech language.
