Students in Ostrava will soon have an opportunity to study at a branch of the elite První obnovené Reálné Gymnázium (The First Reunited Secondary School, or PORG), headed by Václav Klaus Jr, the president’s son. The school should open within two years. “We want to open PORG outside Prague,” said Klaus, the head for eight years of the high school’s flagship branch in Prague, which was established 18 years ago and belongs among the nation’s best schools. “Ostrava seems like a good location. Now we are looking for a suitable building. We will also hire new teachers.”
The main sponsor of the Ostrava school will be Martin Roman, the general director of ČEZ. He has helped fund the PORG project in the past. He donated CZK 100 million to help set up Nový PORG, a new private Czech-English school last September. “In choosing a sponsorship project, we must choose a private school,” he said. “If you look at school rankings, in the top 20, one is private and 19 are state schools. And that one school just happens to be PORG.”
‘To give something back to the region’
According to Martin Roman, Ostrava was the clear choice for the new private high school for several reasons. “Firstly, it is an industrial zone and there are no other schools like this there,” he said. “I also want to give something back to the region.”
In Ostrava there is the private First International School, which was established four years ago and is the only school of this type in the area.
It is not clear yet how much building PORG in Ostrava will cost. “The project is still in its infancy, so it is too early for any financial plans,” Roman said.
