School and Preschool Complex in Płużnica, Płużnica, Poland
Płużnica Commune, Płużnica, Poland
Primary School no.2 named after John Paul II, Wąbrzeźno, Poland
A student council has a potential to be a place that could help prepare young people become active and conscious citizens. The research shows that very few students and teachers have the knowledge on how a student council body works, or is willing to engage with it. We have conducted our own research that showed the youth in our region is feeling powerless, while school-led initiatives are rarely completed.
We have addressed this issue by training representatives from student councils and their guardians. Together, we worked on ideas for activities, implementation plans, as well as talked about self-governance and the school needs of our participants. We hired a person to work with student councils interested in participation in implementing their ideas, actions, and electoral campaigns, so that more students may become interested in actively engaging in their activities. After visiting our project partners, students worked on ideas specific to their schools. We have supported financially five of their initiatives. Together with the municipality of Płużnica, the students designed a cooperation plan between the student council and the local government. Finally, we have organized a gala for the student councils and representatives from the municipality.
Two primary schools from our District, that were our partners in the project, facilitated meetings and outreach to the youth and teachers, as well as supported the collaboration with their local government. Officials from our second partner Municipality of Płużnica supported the youth in their collaboration with the local government and promoted the project among other municipalities in the district. Norway-based International Organization for Democracy and Human Rights experienced in working with the youth and in support of civic rights and democracy, was our final partner. A group of students and teachers visited our partner and had the opportunity to study the best practices and examples of building civic engagement among the youth.
Our observations and conversations confirm that both the youth and the adults have increased their knowledge about student councils and youth initiatives. For the first time, students, especially from Płużnica municipality, had an opportunity to talk with authorities from their municipality. A lasting result of our project is the ongoing collaboration between the student council and the Płużnica municipality. We are already planning next collaboration with our Norwegian partner.
