CSU’s 5th General Assembly
The OBESSU Candidate Organisation Česká středoškolská unie (Czech High School Students Union, CSU) organised its 5th General Assembly which took place in Prague at the end of April 2015. One of the highlights of the General Assembly was the work on the position paper of the Union regarding issues of the Czech educational system, followed up by a debate on the Czech high school mathematics exit exam which is planned to be obligatory from 2019. The event was full of interesting activities such as working groups on our education manifesto which will define the organisation’s position and aims.
Along the lines of the last General Assembly, we organised a debate on the current issues the Czech school students are facing, focusing in particular on the Czech maturita . Our invitation to the debate was taken up by distinguished experts Bob Kartous (EDUin think-tank), Jiří Zlatuška (Czech Parliament), Nina Nováková (Czech Parliament), Jiří Zíka (Ministry of Education) and the discussions were chaired by Jan Wagner (Czech school blog website).
The Ministry of education, youth and sports is planning to set the maturita mathematics examination obligatory for the most of Czech high school students from 2019. Considering the opinion of many experts, students and CSU itself, the Czech educational system is not ready to implement and adapt to it. Czech students are concerned about the quality of teaching mathematics on secondary education level, which we feel is outdated and should be improved. Making math as a mandatory final exam subject whilst its results and popularity are year by year decreasing is truly unsystematic.
The spreading of the outcomes of the debate was ensured by the presence of the state Czech TV which broadcasted live during the General Assembly and journalists who afterwards published articles about these important topics, reaching a wider public.
After the debate, we introduced to the audience and delegates our latest achievements such us the Model Student Council, a brochure aiming to support school students to establish and maintain their councils. At the moment we are distributing around 800 copies to high schools all over the country.
Furthermore, during the General Assembly we organised a very productive informal meeting between CSU members, discussing student council development, sharing good practices and assess the future of the organisations.
For more information and questions please contact CSU at kancelar@stredoskolskaunie.cz.
Written by Česká středoškolská unie (CSU)
