One of the first sunny May afternoons was used by the Martin Rotarians to carry out one of the final phases of the project to build an outdoor classroom for children from the special primary school. They picked up shovels, wheelbarrows and rakes, sifted and transported soil in order to level the ground around the gazebo, which will serve as a classroom for the children.

The outdoor classroom project has been jointly implemented by the partner clubs RC Martin and the German RC Loreley-St. Goarshausen since the beginning of this year, and it will be handed over to the Special Primary School in Martin before the summer holidays. The main idea behind the project is to build a gazebo-classroom on the school grounds for children with disabilities (children with autism, with and without intellectual disabilities). Moving lessons outdoors allows theory and practice to be naturally combined.

The Martin and German Rotarians have been supporting the Special Primary School for more than ten years. They have built a ceramics workshop and a weaving workshop for the children, as well as special classrooms adapted to the needs of pupils with autism. The idea for the outdoor classroom arose during a visit by the German Rotarians in 2025, during the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the founding of RC Martin. And, as it seems, the project will be completed within a year.

The main credit for the implementation of the project goes to the active Rotarian Ján Popadič, who has been the driving force behind the project preparation, communication with the German partners, and above all the individual phases of the classroom construction. The estimated cost of the entire project is €10,000. More information about the project will be provided after the classroom is officially handed over to the school.

Text: René Guráň, photos: Ján Popadič
Martin, 19 May 2026