slovak

The Slovak Republic began a Junior Achievement program in 1994. The organization, known as the Bata Junior Achievement, is named after Thomas J. Bata, Jr., who was the primary founder and responsible for the organization’s formation. Bata Junior Achievement operates with six full-time and two part-time employees. The population of Slovakia is currently 5.5 million, and the official language is Slovak.

The following Junior Achievement programs have been translated for use in the Slovak Republic: Business Basics, Applied Economics, FOME, MESE and Banks in Action.

Bata JA-Slovak Republic believes that one of the greatest threats to their economic future is a large force of unemployed youth. That is why JA programs provide an essential service for their country where the average unemployment rate is almost 19%.

The score for "Lightning over the Tatras", the Slovak national anthem, was written in 1884 during a trip by students of Bratislava´s Evangelical Grammar School to Levoca in support of Ludovít Štúr. The author, Janko Matúška, set his words to the Slovak folk song "A Well She Dug" and the work became the favourite song of Štúr´s young followers. Based on a popular melody and written in standard Slovak, it became known across the nation and was adopted by the Slovak volunteers of 1848, who printed it as a pamphlet.