Schoolchildren in Prague 6 used the chance to make their schools more beautiful
A sprinkler for the garden, a ping-pong table, an outdoor gym, relaxation pillows, scooter racks, but perhaps also dividing walls between urinals in the toilets. These are all ideas that, at the request of their pupils, will now be at most elementary schools in Prague 6 – thanks to the participatory project Chance to Schools.
With the idea that pupils themselves know what they want and what their needs are, Prague 6 launched the Chance to Schools project last school year. She set aside 2.5 million crowns, which she divided among 13 elementary schools and made available to the children to decide for themselves what they wanted to spend on. there are 69 ideas that the pupils voted for implementation through a simple voting system.
“I am happy that the Chances for Schools project was a success and the children got the opportunity to experience how difficult it is to change and enforce anything. I consider their preparation of the project, the method of presentation and defense in front of other classmates and the joining of forces between individuals and class groups to be a very suitable addition to traditional educational methods.” said Marie Kubíková, councilor for education in Prague 6.
“Next year, we would like to give our kindergartens a chance, where we want to involve parents in the proposal and voting process,” the councilor added.
The schoolchildren’s ideas cover a wide range of areas and are mostly about small improvements to everyday life on school grounds. These include outdoor classrooms, a clubhouse and other relaxation zones, table football or hockey, a basketball hoop, and playground goals. It is clear from the ideas that children want to better use the time spent at school outside of classes for sports, fun and relaxation.
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In addition to improving the school environment, Prague 6 sees further benefits in the fact that students not only think about what and how to improve, but also learn to assert their opinion among others. For example, in the form of a promotional video, posters placed around the school and the like.
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“The project successfully educates pupils in the running of the school, when decisions are guided by the principles of democratic principles, which are an inherent part of our society. And the pupils also got practical knowledge about financial literacy,” says Jana Nováková, project coordinator at ZŠ Bílá.
The entire project had clearly defined rules and a voting system, which was provided by the D21 agency for the purposes of the Prague 6 project. More about him at https://www.participation21.cz/.