Life Across Cultures Competition Has Its Winners

What does my homeland mean to me? What is it like to leave home with the feeling that I am never coming back? How do Czechs and Germans see each other and what role does prejudice play? These are the questions that pupils of two Prague schools – the Primary School of Czech-German Understanding and the Kladská Primary School – asked themselves in their projects within the Life Across Cultures competition, which was organised by the Prague City Hall and the People in Need organisation. The winning projects were announced on Monday 23 January 2018 in the ceremonial Brožík Hall of the Old Town Hall by the Prague City councillor Jan Wolf.

 

Pupils and teachers from both winning schools came to receive their awards for their projects from the Prague City councillor Jan Wolf and the director of the People in Need’s education programme, Varieties of the Society, Tomáš Habart on 23 January 2013 at the Old Town Hall.

In their project, pupils of the fifth grade of the Primary School of Czech-German Understanding focused on refugees and the situation in Syria within the context of children’s rights and their violation in war zones. They also looked at the topical issue of fake news in the media. Pupils of the Kladská Primary School, together with their peers from their partner German school in Backnang, rehearsed a play called On the Border which is about Germans overcoming prejudice against Czechs and vice versa.

“Prague has always been a multicultural city. Jews, Frenchmen, Germans and Slavs have all lived here together. I see the future of our country in united Europe and therefore it is important that we all actively communicate with each other and seek mutual understanding, regardless our origin,” said the councillor Jan Wolf during the award ceremony. “I am grateful that the pupils together with their teachers have explored the subject of living together with people from different cultures, building mutual understanding and showing respect for cultural diversity,” added Tomáš Habart, director of the People in Need’s education programme Varieties of the Society.