Ostrava: City of Education and Sports
Deputy Mayor of Ostrava, Ms Andrea Hoffmannová studied and also taught American studies at
university before becoming a politician. Education has remained her priority at the Town Hall where
she is responsible for schools and sports.
Ms Hoffmannová, Ostrava is a city extremely agile in
supporting gifted and talented children and students. Will
you tell us more?
The great topic discussed by experts and the media in the
past few years has been social inclusion and support to pupils
with a physical handicap or living in a socially-disadvantaged
background. Ostrava is active and successful in social
inclusion. On the other hand, even the previous government
understood that the future and positive development of
Ostrava is through the progress of industries with added value
and modern technologies and in support of talented pupils
and students. We want families, schools and the environment
to motivate and support our children’s talents because that is
how they might bring higher added value to our economy and
culture within a few years, and also improve the reputation
of our city and region. Our special funding programme
systematically supports foreign language instruction at the
elementary schools in Ostrava, and our Merit Scholarship
programme helps talented students from Ostrava get to
32 ǀ POSITIV 1/2020
prestigious foreign universities. Our programme of talent
management is the flagship project: special funding supports
language, scientific and technical subjects at elementary and
secondary schools as well as at universities. Their attractive
forms bring children to laboratories where they do science
experiments or assemble their first robots. Another novelty
is talent coordinators and career advisors who help children
develop their natural talents, advise them in career choices,
and organize field trips.
Since 2019 you have been visiting elementary school
canteens with the chef David Valíček, teaching staff to
cook tasty, attractive meals. What exactly does the project
Fajnové bistro (“Fine Cafeteria”) involve? Are school
managements interested and how do the cooks in schools
respond?
First, I want to say that the quality of school canteens in
Ostrava is generally high, and both the managements of
schools and the staff try very hard to serve children the best.