Certain schools have responded positively to recommendations by the Education, Science, Research and Sport Ministry to visit former concentration camps in an effort to combat Slovakia's recent rise in extremism. This was reported in the Pravda daily on Thursday. According to school headmasters, it's a powerful experience for pupils.
The paper contacted approximately 20 secondary schools across the country, with a quarter of them confirming that after the ministry's call they reintroduced visits to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland or they expanded their visits to museums in Slovakia, such as the Holocaust Museum in Sereď (Trnava region), which was opened in June.
František Tamašovič from the Association for the Development of Secondary Vocational Education says that schools have undertaken similar activities in the past, and that the Ministry's recommendation is nothing new. "Experiential learning is one of the best forms in highlighting evil which stems from fascism," he said. Though he noted that funding for such excursions is particular demanding. He would like to see such activities supported financially by the state, as is the case with ski lessons. "We'd like to see such activities also enshrined in the national educational program," stressed Tamašovič.
