The Active Citizenship Society(English School)
The Active Citizenship club began in September 2007 as a result of a student initiative. Initially it brought together pupils from a diverse range of backgrounds from year 4-7 to discuss and debate issues of concern in a friendly, safe, environment and to develop citizenship skills and action. As a result of the success of this society we will be introducing an Active Citizenship Society for years 1-3 from September 2009.
Our Aims
We believe that nowadays passiveness and apathy are common characteristics of many students. This was the basic motive that encouraged the us to request the formation of such a club. The idea of this club is to try and make students become more aware of social issues and become actively involved on improving society. An important aim is to help students acquire the skills and the competencies to become active democratic citizens. Another aim of this group is to bring students closer by organising different activities such as parties, writing articles to publish in school and screening of films and documentaries. A major aim is to learn how to debate and to respect different views on a variety of issues and to have fun between students in an alternative environment. Last but not least, we are targeting on fighting racism and extreme nationalism amongst the school and anywhere we can.
Topics of interest
Some of the topics we are interested in are current affairs, alternate music, commercialization of sports, different cultures, environment, school issues, racism, nationalism, immigration, anti-war organisations, social problems, religion and military issues, and of course, school uniform.
What we have done so far
What we have done so far
The most important issue our club worked on last academic year (2007-8) was abolishing the school uniform. After much research, discussion and debate we prepared a document supporting the case for abolishing school uniform which we distributed to students within the school. Next we prepared a petition, collecting signatures from students who supported our cause. Needless to say many signatures were collected. We hope to resume discussions in September and take the issue to the school Council in the hope that changes can be made to the school uniform in the very near future.
We have met with young Italian people from the Youth Organization who visited Cyprus in November 2007. We had a joint workshop where we discussed various issues, including the Cyprus problem, and had a lot of fun at the same time. We have screened some documentaries and have had a lot of discussions in our weekly meetings. These discussions have varied from the Cyprus problem, the meaning of democracy, nationalism and communism/capitalism, the Olympic Games, graffiti, hooliganism, human rights, history teaching in schools, and school commemorations.
This year we published two issues of our own magazine called “The Active Citizenship Society” which we sold to students and staff in the school. The magazine gave us the chance to voice our views on a variety of burning issues and be heard.
We initiated the first ever Multicultural Week at the school, and screened two films during that week that focused on anti-racism and respect for diversity. With the occasion of the Multicultural Week we have also made and screened our own short documentary film on multiple identities in our school.
We have also had guest speakers, specialists in their fields, giving us presentations on pressing issues e.g. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, multicultural education.
Our meetings take place every Thursday at 2 o’clock and they are open for students of years 3-7. We look forward to meeting new members and getting active together for the good of the school and society.
We have met with young Italian people from the Youth Organization who visited Cyprus in November 2007. We had a joint workshop where we discussed various issues, including the Cyprus problem, and had a lot of fun at the same time. We have screened some documentaries and have had a lot of discussions in our weekly meetings. These discussions have varied from the Cyprus problem, the meaning of democracy, nationalism and communism/capitalism, the Olympic Games, graffiti, hooliganism, human rights, history teaching in schools, and school commemorations.
This year we published two issues of our own magazine called “The Active Citizenship Society” which we sold to students and staff in the school. The magazine gave us the chance to voice our views on a variety of burning issues and be heard.
We initiated the first ever Multicultural Week at the school, and screened two films during that week that focused on anti-racism and respect for diversity. With the occasion of the Multicultural Week we have also made and screened our own short documentary film on multiple identities in our school.
We have also had guest speakers, specialists in their fields, giving us presentations on pressing issues e.g. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, multicultural education.
Our meetings take place every Thursday at 2 o’clock and they are open for students of years 3-7. We look forward to meeting new members and getting active together for the good of the school and society.
No comments:
Post a Comment