HAXAGON: Practical IT and Cybersecurity Teaching for Secondary Schools in the Czech Republic

HAXAGON is a Czech educational project focused on modern teaching of computer science and cyber security at secondary schools. It connects a virtual learning platform, practical exercises, methodological support for teachers and a competitive environment in which pupils can develop their knowledge and skills without the need for expensive specialized hardware. Over 67,000 pupils, almost 600 schools and over 2,000 teachers have gradually joined the HAXAGON ecosystem. The project thus shows how the practical teaching of fast-changing digital disciplines can be scaled across schools and regions.

From a school cybernetic polygon to a nationwide platform

The roots of the HAXAGON project date back to 2016 and to the Smíchov Secondary Industrial School and Gymnasium in Prague. The then graduates of the school Nathan Němec and David Sýkora were involved in the preparation and piloting of the new field of Cyber Security. First, they created educational content and participated in building a physical cyber polygon. Gradually, however, they came across the limits of this model – the need to restore technical equipment, the limited capacity of the physical classroom, and during the pandemic, the impossibility of using the polygon in distance learning. This experience led to the creation of a virtual environment and later to the establishment of the HAXAGON project.

The originally local solution gradually became a tool usable by secondary schools across the Czech Republic. Today, HAXAGON develops three interconnected areas: learning platform, Battlefield and Skirmish competition.

Practical lessons available from a regular browser

The basis of the project is a virtual learning platform that allows teachers to create classes, assign prepared tasks to pupils and monitor their progress in real time. Practical exercises take place in a simulated environment accessible via a web browser. Schools do not have to acquire their own specialized laboratory equipment or build a physical cybernetic polygon. The platform is accessible from school and from home and can be used around the clock.

According to current project data, 140 secondary schools use the year-round HAXAGON licence. The learning content includes 370 assignments divided into 28 courses, covering a wide range of computer science and cybersecurity topics. It includes not only the practical environment itself, but also theoretical materials for pupils and didactic materials for teachers. The smaller content package is designed to cover the teaching of informatics according to the new framework educational program, a more extensive option is intended mainly for vocational schools with the field of Information Technology.

An important part of the model is the support of educators. HAXAGON provides ongoing technical and didactic assistance and its team has made hundreds of personal visits to secondary schools in all fourteen regions. The project thus not only offers technology, but also tries to reduce one of the important obstacles to the modernization of teaching – different professional experience and time possibilities of individual teachers.

Battlefield: Learning through real-world challenges

The second part of the project is HAXAGON Battlefield, a long-term open competition environment in which students can independently practice their skills and compare results with others. The roles are often inspired by real cybersecurity incidents and other phenomena of the digital environment.

Battlefield thus combines gamification with practical problem-solving and supports independent education beyond regular school instruction. It currently contains 207 assignments and involved over 26,600 contestants from over 560 schools. The platform is also followed by an active community environment on Discord with more than 1,700 members, separately dedicated to students and educators.

Skirmish: Cybersecurity even for beginners

The third pillar is the nationwide competition HAXAGON Skirmish Czech Republic. It is intended for students of all types of secondary schools and, in addition to advanced tasks, it also offers simpler tasks focused, for example, on digital hygiene, risk prevention and safe behavior in the online environment. Thanks to this, the competition is not only intended for IT students, but also for complete beginners. Regional rounds take place online, while the best solvers advance to the full-time national final.

The scope of the competition has grown significantly in recent years. While approximately 7 900 contestants from 284 schools participated in the 2025 edition, 23 456 students from 512 secondary schools were already registered in 2026, according to HAXAGON. This figure is also confirmed by the official press release of the South Bohemian Region. The 2026 edition was sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the National Cyber and Information Security Office, among others.

An interesting element of the 2026 edition was also the approach to artificial intelligence. Competitors could use the internet and AI tools to solve tasks. Thus, it was not only the ability to recall the correct answer that was evaluated, but also the ability to search for relevant information, critically evaluate it and make appropriate use of modern technologies.

Measurable scope and impact

The development of the project is evidenced by its current results. More than 67,000 pupils from 596 schools are registered on the platform, over 2,000 teachers work with it and more than 5.6 million assignments have already been submitted to the system. 140 secondary schools teach on the platform all year round.

Growth is also visible in the longer term. In the 2022/2023 school year, 15 secondary schools in the Central and South Bohemian regions piloted the platform, in 2024/2025 around 60 schools were already using it, and a year later, the number of schools using the license increased significantly further.

At the same time, the project has established links with public administration and professional institutions. It cooperates with regions, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, NÚKIB, professional associations and schools, and its experts are also involved in work around framework educational programs for the fields of Cybersecurity and Information Technology.

The involvement of HAXAGON is no longer just an individual activity of schools. In its long-term plan, the Central Bohemian Region states that it has been financially supporting the involvement of its secondary schools in the HAXAGON platform since 2022. The long-term educational plan of the South Bohemian Region also mentions HAXAGON as a specific tool for the development of cybersecurity education, and the region finances platform licenses for its schools.

Why is HAXAGON an example of good practice?

The main strength of the project lies in the interconnection of technological solutions, quality educational content, support for teachers, motivation of students and cooperation of schools with public institutions.

The virtual environment allows for hands-on learning even for schools that do not have the resources to build specialized laboratories. The cloud model overcomes geographical and capacity constraints and allows content to be continuously updated according to technological developments and new cyber threats.

At the same time, the project combines formal school education with voluntary self-education. While the learning platform provides a structured environment for regular learning, Battlefield motivates students to further develop, and Skirmish allows for the involvement of a wide group of learners from beginners to talented students with cutting-edge expertise.

HAXAGON thus contributes to the pillar of digital skills in education, while responding to the need to expand cybersecurity knowledge and prepare more young people for technological professions.

Sustainability and transferability

The HAXAGON model is well scalable. The virtual infrastructure allows for the involvement of additional schools without the need to build new physical laboratories, and the teaching content can be continuously supplemented. A community of educators, students and young content creators, including school leavers, is also an important element of sustainability.

The principle is also transferable outside the currently involved schools. The interconnection of cloud practical environment, structured curriculum, pedagogical support and gamified challenges can be used in other regions and potentially also in other forms of education. The technological infrastructure itself is not geographically tied to the Czech Republic, which also creates space for future use abroad.