STUDY TECHNOLOGY IN THE
POST-SOVIET WORLD

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, social disruption and turmoil followed in the new Czech Republic as this nation of 10.1 million struggled to establish itself as a cultural and economic player on the European and international stages.

Contending with outdated organisational and communication facilities, the nation needed to adapt quickly to compete in the post-Soviet world.

Recognising that the success of the country depended upon the degree its citizens possessed a high level of language and communication skills, in 1997 a Scientologist established the first Applied Scholastics centre in Prague to bring L. Ron Hubbard’s Study Technology to the Czech Republic.

Called Life Improvement Through Education (LITE), the programme offered the technology of learning how to learn any subject. The centre rapidly expanded and soon two more LITE centres were formed. Additionally, an Applied Scholastics office serving both the Czech Republic and Slovakia opened its doors.

A team of Applied Scholastics staff members travelled from Prague to Applied Scholastics headquarters at Spanish Lake, Missouri, for advanced training that equipped them to help even more people in their home country.

LITE centres soon opened in cities throughout the Czech Republic—a total of 13 in that nation, with other affiliates in Slovakia, India, Germany and Spain. To date, LITE has delivered more than 1 million hours of training to 21,000 students.

To meet the growing demand for Study Technology, tutoring centres called BASIC were also launched, with the mission of helping people improve study and learning skills and literacy level. To date, 22 BASIC centres have opened in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia, enrolling more than 3,500 students, including children with special needs who benefit greatly from Study Technology when other schooling has failed.

In 2010, the group opened the first Applied Scholastics elementary school in the nation. In 2011, the widespread impact and demonstrated efficacy of Study Technology was acknowledged by the Czech Ministry of Education when it announced that the central Applied Scholastics text, the Basic Study Manual, was officially accredited for training the nation’s teachers.