SAKKI Participant, Musa Jallow, tells us about his experience at the OBESSU Study Session “Participation and Democracy”
– A participants’ perspective of the Study Session –
OBESSU organised a Study Session on “Participation and Democracy: A legal framework for school student rights” for young people who are active in their national student organisations. The Study Session was held at the European Youth Centre in Budapest from the 7th to 14th April 2013.
The first days of the Study Session were spent getting to know the topic and exploring the differences between the countries present. Most of the work was conducted in small groups, which especially for me is the coolest way to work. After a couple of days we delved deeper into the topic and had some really interesting debates. The debate which everyone was waiting for was that on “Vote@16”, which turned out to be great and everyone was really involved and passionate about it. The Study Session was really intense, in a good way, and included a lot of work and intensive training. So, when the free afternoon came along, we really appreciated it, and had a lot of fun together in Budapest! During the last few days we talked a lot of about different tools and how to use them, as well as democracy in schools and how we could make it better. We also made a summary about all the topics discussed and created personal action plans for our own organisations and countries. Throughout the Study Session, the word Democracy really shone through in every aspect of it, from topics, content, as well as methods and how we did things.
This Study Session reached all of my expectations and much more! I liked the whole structure of the Study Session, because it was structured in a way that we, the participants, would get as much as possible out of it. The biggest topic was democracy in schools, but we also talked a lot about our national and organizational differences, participation and how to get more school students involved in school student unions. The Study Session was a good way to get more knowledge and tools to continue our work in our own countries. I am sure that everyone of us got a lot of new contacts and friends from different countries. Co-operation between different organisations is one really useful tool, and now we know how to use it better. I see this as one of the biggest learning points for me and my organisation to do our job even better. I come from country and organization where these things already work quite well, so it was even cooler to see how much you were able to get out of the Study Session, and how much we can continue working on these topics to continue improving. Now I must share all the new knowledge and tools I learned within my organization.
I think that this Study Session was a total success. Now, using these new contacts, tools and knowledge, we must continue our work to make democracy even bigger and better in schools.
Written by Musa Jallow, SAKKI
