Donor: European Agency for Reconstruction and Open Society Fund
Duration of the project: May 2005 – February 2006
The main object of this project was to raise awareness and the level of knowledge among secondary-school students in Serbia about the European Union and the prospects of integration processes in Europe, as well as about the benefits for Serbia after association and accession to EU. The aim of the project was to enable the students to acquire necessary knowledge about those issues so as to take part in public debates about them. Goal was to make them more interested in these matters as well as to try to direct their aspirations toward supporting the necessary reforms needed for accession of Serbia to EU.The project covered wide a territory of Serbia – in some remote areas the majority of the participants have attended an alternative way of education for the first time. Seminars were held in 15 towns (Bosilegrad, Bujanovac, Vladičin Han, Kovin, Titel, Bačka Palanka, Jagodina, Ivanjica, Priboj, Veliko Gradište, Požarevac, Prijepolje, Požega, Bajina Bašta, Kučevo). Apart from the usual seminar materials, the Centre produced the book Pridružimo se (Let’s Join) specially for this project – it was entirely adapted to the content of the seminars, the age and the level of knowledge of the participants.
Each seminar was attended by 30 to 40 students. Upon request of the Centre, school directors and teachers informed the students about the seminars and they applied voluntarily. The seminars consisted of lectures, workshops, debates and role-plays. Lectures were held with power point presentations and each lecturer encouraged the students to ask questions and make comments.
After the seminars, students were given 4 to 6 weeks to write essays/poems or produce works of art or power point presentations, focusing on the subjects regarding the European Union, the integration process, as well as their personal impressions of understanding contemporary Europe and the position of our country. The Centre received the contributions from almost all schools (11 out of 15) while the quality of works (especially the artistic ones) have been far beyond the expectations of the Centre. The essays, drawings and reproductions of other works of art have been published and will be distributed to selected schools in Serbia. The authors of the five best contributions received prizes (laptop computers) at the ceremony, on 30 January 2006.
