The road to a better future: Martin Halík changes the lives of Roma children through education

Martin Halík and his family are behind the idea of creating a secondary school for children from Roma settlements, to give them a better chance at education and a future. For more than eight years they have been helping Roma communities, and their aim is to bring lasting change through education.

Why does education matter?

We believe that working with children and education are key to positive change in Roma settlements. We want to give young people the chance to gain skills that will let them turn their interest in technology or cooking into trades that will give them steady work. Our aim is to set up a secondary school focused on IT and promotional graphics, as well as a cook programme. Students will have the chance to learn programming, work with graphics software or gain cooking skills.

For these children, education is the key to a better future. Martin Halík and his team have taught more than 140 children to read and write, and have helped many families change their approach to life. Once dependent on social benefits, many parents now work and want to secure a better future for their children.

How will the secondary school work?

The first children are already ready to start secondary school. In cooperation with the St. Cyril and Methodius Secondary School in Michalovce, they will have individual lessons right in Klenovec. The children will travel to Michalovce for exams every month.

Besides this, for several years we have been running courses in bricklaying, computing and cooking, so that we can prepare the children step by step for secondary school.

Problems we deal with among children from the Roma settlements

Many children from Roma settlements attend special schools, which later makes it harder for them to get a good education. That is why we also focus on preparing them for supplementary exams, so that the children can make up the education they need. In Roma settlements it is the usual state of things that people have neither education nor work and live only on social benefits. For many families it is a financial strain to send children to secondary school. We want to give them a helping hand and make this process easier.

How can you help these families?

The activities so far have been paid for mostly from the own resources of the founder of CRM, Martin Halík. Your help will let us employ a Slovak language teacher who will help the children prepare for the maturita school-leaving exam, and add assistants for one-to-one teaching to the team. The funds raised will also be used to buy teaching aids and ingredients for cooking practice, and to cover transport costs. The total cost of the school's first year is 40 000 €, which also pays the salaries of the teachers of IT, maths, cooking, English and Russian.

The work of CRM brings real change in Roma settlements:
100 % of fathers work and provide for their families (before, only 25 %)
80 % of young people found work after finishing school instead of a life on social benefits
More than 140 children have learned to read and write, which opens the door to better education for them

So who is Martin Halík?

Martin Halík is a talented designer who worked as lead designer at the Czech startup Kiwi.cz. He had the promise of an important career, but his life changed when he visited a Roma settlement and saw the poverty there. He decided to act, moved into the settlement for several months and began to help.

Today he leads the Christian Roma Mission (CRM) together with his wife Michalka, a psychologist who works with the children. Their team has gradually grown to include Martin's parents and other volunteers who help in educating Roma children.