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In 2011 four ECP students, Chhavi Maggu, Dora Robinson, Courtney Kaye and Marie Smetánková, decided, after finishing their IB exams, to collect sufficient resources to provide an education at ECP for a young person coming from a less fortunate background, who would benefit significantly from this opportunity. Thanks to a very successful auction they were able to raise a large amount of money, which laid the foundation for the Václav Havel Scholarship. Václav Havel, our patron at that time, dedicated his name to the project. Thanks to the Václav Havel Scholarship and the support of the school, Marek Horváth, the first Romani student to graduate in 2019, was able to study at the school.
In 2020, our students were able to raise funds for a scholarship for another Roma student who has been studying at our school fifth year.
Adam is doing well at school and is a great ambassador for the Roma community. This also started a marathon of fundraising for a scholarship for his successor.
During the pandemic, the idea was born to organize art competitions that would help us spread the good idea of the Václav Havel Scholarship in Czech schools and that would inspire children from all over the country to create art and literature. After the first year of the competition, we decided to continue only with the art competition. We are very happy about every picture that teachers from all over the country send in. We are glad that the Ministry of Education has been supporting us in the long term and grants patronage to both the competition and the concert every year.
Our Patrons
Our project has been supported by countless people of importance who dedicated their time, resources, and intellect for our cause, and for that we are grateful.
VÁCLAV HAVEL
"Hope is not the conviction, that it is going to turn out well. Hope is the certainty that it has a purpose no matter the outcome."
KAREL SCHWARZENBERG
"Indifference, as it is known, is the mother of dictatorship".
Our founders
Message from our Founders
When we first founded the Havel scholarship in 2011, our aim was to provide a student from a disadvantaged background with a chance to study at ECP. We also hoped that it would establish itself as the first student-led scholarship initiative at the ECP, and would be carried on by after we left the College. Although none of us could be at the concert, it makes us very proud to know that our initiative has not been forgotten. Our concert is a fantastic opportunity to appreciate the many talented individuals at ECP, while contributing towards a good cause. It also provides the chance to remember Vaclav Havel, who supported our cause and knew the difference that a good education can make, and we feel very honoured to be carrying on this scholarship under his name. Thank you all for coming and a special thank you to the students that have dedicated their time and effort into making this possible.
Our team
Click HERE to read a small collection of interviews from our team.
Below you can find photos of our previous teams.
Václav Havel Scholarship team 2025/2026
2019/2020
2024/2025
2018/2019
2016/2017
Message from Dr Brown about the Scholarships on The ECP
Although we try hard to keep our fees as low as possible we realise that they are still very significant and we offer substantial scholarships and bursaries to help make it possible for all who want to come to the College to be able to do so. Many of our students benefit from these arrangements.
Testimonial by Marek Horváth
My name is Marek Horváth and I was the first student on Vaclav Havel's scholarship. This scholarship allowed me to attend The English College in Prague. It was a great opportunity to study at this school, an opportunity that not many people have. Because of this, I think it important that someone else gets the same opportunity that I did, that might seem unattainable now. Studying at this school gave me a lot of experiences and new feelings, same as it allowed me to get in touch with different cultures, something that someone else should also experience. The level of English that one can learn at this school is something that is very beneficial in these days. I think that the presence of another Roma student at this school will be beneficial not only to the student but also his classmates, as they will see the Roma in a different light than that in which they are being shown today.
Learn more about the Scholarship through an interview with Marek Horvath
INTERVIEW WITH KAREL SCHWARZENBERG
Our students had the honour of interviewing Karel Schwarzenberg on the subject of Roma integration in the Czech Republic. We found out why the Lety memorial in particular is so important to him.
Karel Schwarzenberg is a very inspiring person so we recommend you read his views on the Roma question in this interview.
By David Jehlička and Selma Kaymakci, 21.1.2020
The Václav Havel Scholarschip is suported by Karel Schwanzenberg for a long time. We are very grateful for his moral and financial support; it is important and bounding for us.
Our students had the honour of doing an interview with Karel Schwarzenberg on the topic of Roma integration in the Czech Republic. We found out why, why the Lety memorial, in particular, is so important to him.
Karel Schwarzenberg is a very inspiring person so we recommend you read his views on the Roma question in this interview.
What do you think of discrimination against the Roma people in the Czech Republic?
I spent a lot of time on it. During my whole life. I grew up in Orlik and Cimelice. Five kilometres from Orlik there is a village called Lety. And in Lety there was a Roma concentration camp. I had a very unusual childhood experience there.
When I was a child we used to ride in carriages or we would ride horses because our cars got confiscated by the Nazis. I was a total freak for horses. The best thing for me was when I would drive the carriage myself and control the horses. My dad taught me all this. My father was not allowed to go to Orlik during the Protectorate era. He was banned from there. We were evicted. Right after the war, we were allowed to go to Orlik once again. And so we drove, and I remember how excited I was. Suddenly, an uneasy feeling hit me. It was so terrible that even though I was a nine year old boy I remember it to this day. Terrible anxiety. I turned to my father and asked him what was there. Dad looked at me with a serious face and said: "Awful things happened here. I will explain it to you when you grow up. " That was when we were driving past the Lety camp. And that influenced me. I still remember how some of the prisoners from Lety worked on the future Zdar bridge which was being built at that time, before they got transferred to Osvetim. That was when I first saw our policeman not only with a gun but also with a fixed bayonet on him.
When I was elected as the head of the Helsinki Federation for Human rights, news was reported about what was happening with the Roma people here. Well, that communist regime for example sterilized women violently without asking them. It just robbed them of their ability to have children and things like that. We behaved cruelly. And it turned out accordingly.
Barely the old regime fell and the citizens and towns, especially from the south, agreed on moving out Roma people from the centre of the city and settle them in neglected buildings on the outskirts of the city. They created a ghetto. And ghetto is always a way down. Many problems occurred from this: criminality, drugs, whatever you want to say. We have treated the Gypsies unacceptably and even worse very terribly. And that is why it ended the way it did.
And do you think that the Vaclav Havel Scholarship at our school which is for a Roma student is a step in the right direction?
Of course. They can be very successful if they have an opportunity to study. I am glad. Do you know who is Miss Czech Republic now? She is a Roma, who studied! And she is proud to be a Roma. That is the future! They achieve such things when they are fully integrated. And she is studying, her father also studied. Look at this.
So you think that studying is the foundation?
Always school, Always school. If you don't go to school you won't get a reasonable job. They are not smarter nor dumber than us. So they have the right to get as good of an education as we do.
And do you think that Roma people have the same access to quality education as others?
No, the children have never been put to the same school with other children. Instead, they were put into a special school. And that is how it started. The discrimination began at school age. Hardly one of them got into a gymnasium because of this and so on.... Whether they are blacks in America or Romas here, it is the same thing.
Why do you think that Czechs behave towards Romas in this way? Prejudices for centuries, prejudices for centuries.
And how can we overcome these prejudices? What should we do?
Enlightenment and Roma. As soon as they become lawyers or doctors it will stop. Also, the awareness of the so called whites. That is the most important thing. And talking about the issue. Talking about it openly at school. The most important thing is to address the problems.
Thank you for the interview.
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