Children demand better schools

"All children should be able to go to school and finish it regardless of their nationality or religion, and no matter whether they are poor or not."

Thursday 18 October 2007

That's what 13-year-old Dragana told Serbian President Boris Tadic on 5 October.

Dragana was one of six children from Subotica in northern Serbia who presented President Tadic with a 'Rewrite the Future' charter and told him how they would like to improve their school.

That Friday afternoon the big reception room at the President's cabinet was full of children and a few adults, including Save the Children staff. When the president appeared, everyone suddenly stopped talking. But after a couple of seconds, 13-year-old Dragana stood up and gave the charter to the President who signed it. The President told them he was happy to answer their questions and that they were welcome to talk openly what they think about school.

One of the children, Darijan, was brave enough to say, "I'd like to have a better snack. At the moment, it's not very tasty and it's dry. And some children don't have any money, so they just look at their fellow students eating."

Dragana continued, "It's boring at school. We don't learn anything that we can use later in our lives. The lessons aren't interesting. They're full of things that we don't really need, and the teaching is boring. It should be more interesting and creative!"

All the children agreed they would like school to be like home. When the President asked what they meant, Dragana explained, "We'd like to feel better while we're in school, not as though we're in some military barracks. We’d also like our teacher to be friendly. We’d like a school with no violence and no fighting in the playground. We'd like to feel good when going to school." Children participating in the Rewrite the Future programme present their 'charter' to Serbian President Tadic.

Photo caption: Children participating in the Rewrite the Future programme present their 'charter' to Serbian President Tadic.

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