Three teachers
We have three very “promising” female teachers living inside the severely impoverished settlement of Stara Ľubovňa-Podsadek. More precisely speaking, they are actually three “future” teachers because Barborka Čurejová, Barborka Porgošová and Agneska Čurejová are only eleven years old. But their desire for their dream job is so strong that they take it as a certainty.
Each of these three young girls has caught our attention through their diligence and cleverness already demonstrated while in pre-school. Since their early years they have been regularly coming to ETP’s community centre for their pre-school education. When they became pupils at their elementary school, Soňa, their pre-school teacher, became their mentor. She has spent a lot of time directly assisting them in their studies as well as going out for trips or just talking about anything they found intriguing. They have created beautiful relationships based on trust. In addition to their cherished local mentor, they also have online mentors.
Because the girls were very active, ambitious and studying well, Peter, the head of the ETP community centre there, made a decision to support the girls in their transition from primary school located close to the settlement, with its lower level education, to a school in the centre of Stará Ľubovňa with more demanding academic level. A year ago they started 5th grade in the new school and they are doing well. They have found new friends and have become an important part of their class.
“A few days ago they came to the community centre and showed me their homework from Physics. Their task was to prepare a small project which presents some famous invention and a short summary about its author. Each of the girls has chosen a different topic: one chose the “gramophone”, another chose the “pen” and still another chose the “television”. Peter said, “We were working on it during whole afternoon, using the internet and then editing with the computer. We learned a lot and we had lot of fun together. In the school the girls were praised for the work they had done”. Peter also wants to reward them for their hard work. He wants to take them to visit their former favourite teacher and after that he wants after that he wants to invite them to eat a torte together with his wife at his house.
We wish our eleven-year-old teachers — who, by the way, have been playing together since their childhood — only the best for their future and we are determined to continue to assist them in everything they would need to fulfil their dreams.