The Integrated Secondary School in Sokolov will open to students

Photo: www.isste.cz

Sokolov - Representatives of the Integrated Secondary Technical and Economic School in Sokolov (ISŠTE) today presented the completed reconstruction of part of the campus and the new school building for a total of 390.2 million crowns. The architecturally remarkable seven-story building for 750 students, designed by architect Roman Koucký, will provide modern facilities for students of the largest secondary school in the district and is also set to open to the public, said the school director Pavel Janus during the opening.
    The new secondary school building features an unconventional interior layout of polygonal cells that extend through all floors. The interiors are painted in bright colors. Unusual are also the restrooms, which resemble more of a space for student meetings.
    The project for the reconstruction was initiated by the Karlovy Vary Region at the beginning of December 2009, and the work was completed at the end of April 2012. Most of the funding was acquired by the Karlovy Vary Region from the Regional Operational Program. According to Governor Josef Novotný (ČSSD), who previously served as director of ISŠTE, the new school has the chance to attract new students as well as employers. "I hope that companies and employers in the region will actively cooperate with the school and support the recruitment of interested parties into technical fields," Novotný stated.
    "The new building will offer 18 spacious classrooms for 32 students and eight classrooms for 16 students. There will also be laboratories for physics and chemistry. Two new IT classrooms will be equipped with new computers. All classrooms have the most modern educational technologies," described the building's possibilities the school director. "We want to open the school to the public; therefore, we plan exhibition spaces and information facilities," added Janus.
    From September 2012, when the school celebrates 55 years of existence, life in all its parts will fully commence. Thus, the Karlovy Vary Region has another modern lifelong learning center at the European level, following the Technical Education Center in Ostrov.
    However, like the Ostrov school, it has been affected by speculation about a possible return of European subsidies. In the case of the Sokolov school, the main reason according to an audit by Deloitte Advisory was ambiguous criteria for selecting suppliers. A major consideration in this was the alignment of construction with the needs of teaching at the school, which according to auditors was too subjective. The Ministry of Finance, however, acknowledged the region's and school's objections against the audit.