AKS´s Cross Striped and Colourfully Spotted 16th General Assembly
“For diversity. Against racism” was the motto of the 16th General Assembly of OBESSU Member Organisation Aktion kritischer Schüler_innen (AKS), which took place on the weekend between the 23rd and 24th of May in Linz, Austria. Besides the election of the national Board, several discussions and voting on educational and political matters, one of the highlights of the meeting was the resolution on this semester´s campaign against racism named “Cross Striped and Colourfully Spotted”.
The main goal of the campaign was to raise awareness on everyday racism and discrimination, especially within the school system. To critically talk about racist incidents at school, AKS believes it is crucial to sensitise students. Therefore, we demand and foster an ongoing discussion on racism at school. Another point of the campaign was to revolutionise history as a subject, especially in a way that enables thematising racism in a broader spectrum. For example, students with a migrant background are often enrolled into “special schools” against their will due to language barriers. This is something AKS strongly disagrees with and demands the abolition of “special schools”. On the other hand, our Organisation supports a comprehensive school system, standing for inclusion and tolerance, in order to fight social selection in the educational system. The main goal of this campaign was to encourage school students to stand up against racism and embrace diversity, and also to clearly state that racism and discrimination have no place at school and in society as a whole.
Besides this important resolution, several proposals concerning next year´s Workplan were intensively discussed and voted positively. An important topic was the demand for more autonomous democracy in school. School students should be able to participate in any decision-making process in their schools. The General Assembly also discussed and debated the fact that pressure from the school system to get higher grades takes lot of time in student´s lives. The delegates came to the conclusion that a qualification profile instead of grades would evaluate every student´s performance individually and therefore should be considered as a valid alternative.
For further information regarding the campaign and to get updates on the upcoming AKS activities and projects, please contact Veronika Griesmayr (AKS International Officer) at veronika@aks.at.
Written by Veronika Griesmayr, Aktion kritischer Schüler_innen (AKS)
