The Council of Europe, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, is beginning a series of training seminars for trainers and teachers on human rights education and education for democratic citizenship. The seminars will be held within the framework of the EU/CoE Joint Programme “Promoting Human Rights Education and Democratic Citizenship in Eastern Partnership countries”.

The first all-Ukrainian seminar for teachers and teacher trainers "Education for Human Rights and Democratic Citizenship" was opened on the 26 October in Irpin in the Kyiv region.

25 educators from regional in-service teacher trainers’ institutes from all over Ukraine came to the 4-day training workshop to get acquainted with the educational materials of the Council of Europe on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE).

The main feature of EDC/HRE is that it involves active learning and student participation in decision-making processes. Its uniqueness lies in supporting the development and establishment of democratic values in secondary education in Ukraine, the system of democratic self-governance, and the establishment of democratic principles in the education system as a whole.

The aim of the seminar is to introduce the basic principles and tools of EDC/HRE into the classroom and to develop training materials to help every teacher to create a democratic environment in their school and class in order to acquaint students with human rights, gender equality and motivate them to participate actively in their school life.