The family foundation of Mrs Renáta Kellnerová and Mr Petr Kellner in 2019: Generous support for 97 secondary school students, 61 university students, and 860 teachers at publicly-funded primary schools

The family foundation of Mrs Renáta Kellnerová and Mr Petr Kellner strives to make high quality education accessible to the largest possible number of children and young people, and therefore heavily supports projects in the public and private education systems. Last year, it distributed CZK 89.5 million in grants; since its establishment it has distributed as much as CZK 800 million.

In 2019, the following benefitted from The Kellner Family Foundation’s grants:

• 97 students of Open Gate Grammar School; need-based grants totalling CZK 41 million
• 61 university students; financial grants totalling CZK 10.5 million
• 860 teachers and through them 9,500 pupils at 23 publicly-funded primary schools; CZK 31 million for the Helping Schools Succeed project

In the spring of this year, the Czech education system changed profoundly as the country fell into a state of emergency. Overnight, online teaching replaced classroom teaching. “I am convinced that a lot of good will remain with us from that period and that we will contribute to the further development of our students and also the school system in the Czech Republic through systematic and sustained care,” Renáta Kellnerová, the Foundation’s chairwoman and founder, responds to the current situation in her Introductory Statement in The Kellner Family Foundation’s annual report.

Thanks to the need-based grants from the Foundation, 97 students are attending the Open Gate Grammar School, one of the highest-rated grammar schools in the Czech Republic, this academic year. In financial terms, this constitutes CZK 41 million of support. Since the grammar school was established, the family foundations of Mr and Mrs Kellner have provided its students with a total of 1,548 yearly grants. Thus, 53 children from children’s homes, foster families, and the Klokánek facility have also been able to attend Open Gate since 2005.

The Helping Schools Succeed project, launched by the Foundation in 2010 and generously financed by it ever since, continued to run at publicly-funded primary schools for the tenth year. The Foundation has allocated as much as CZK 293 million for primary schools in the public sector. This project helps to change the school environment in favour of a genuine education for pupils, as well as teachers’ professional development. In 2019, more than 860 teachers and, through them, also 9,500 pupils benefitted from CZK 31 million at the 23 primary schools involved. A plan to extend the span of the project to include a total of 100 primary schools was clearly outlined in the latter half of 2019.

The Foundation has also been providing financial grants for gifted and motivated students at higher-education institutions and universities for the last ten years. In the 2019/2020 academic year, the Foundation allocated a total of CZK 10.5 million to 61 selected grantees under the Universities project. With the Foundation helping to pay tuition fees and covering the costs of living, a total of 177 young people have studied or are enrolled at universities, predominantly outside the Czech Republic.