The students Magi, Nadja and Jana about participation and the programme “Euroscola“

Magi, Nadja and Jana are students of the William Ewart Gladston Secondary School in Sofia who attended the Euroscola program. All of them share huge interest in the political participation, media, environmental protection, minorities and foreign languages.

Nowadays, the crucial factor for incorporating the young people into the democratic European life is not constrained to informing them about the current affairs but includes involving them directly into the whole of the democratic processes. An active participation in the political life helps them become real citizens of the European democracy, therefore attention should be paid to creating possibilities for starting discussions on the current affairs.

The profits from the involvement in the program concern not only the students for whom participation means greater career chances but also the modern European society benefiting from having experienced and aware young citizens. “Therefore youth should be given a chance to debate on different topics concerning their interest in order to examine the uniqueness of being an EU citizen”, Magi Shivarova said.

The goal of the “Euroscola” program is to encourage teenagers to get familiar with the institutions of European Parliament through participation in conferences and even voting its resolutions. The participants are usually 16-18 years old.

The project gives an opportunity to spend a day at the European Parliament in Strasbourg where the participants can debate, discuss and share their opinions on the EU tasks and its improvement.

During the day, around 500 students take part in meetings. The participants are allowed to talk only in English and French which is a very beneficial for them since they can practice and improve their language and conversational skills.                                                                         

http://www.europarl.be/view/de/Ep_teachers/Euroscola.html