In the coming weeks pilot schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) which are part of the European Union and Council of Europe action “Quality education for all” will participate in joint activities to promote democratic school culture and celebrate Human Rights Day. For this occasion, the month of December will be marked as Human Rights and Democracy month.

Recently 29 primary and secondary schools across BiH which are part of the action’s School network received media and IT equipment that has enabled them to create “digital democracy classrooms” which are especially meaningful in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The equipment is intended to be used by the students and school staff for enhancing democratic culture and media literacy, filming and developing different projects in line with the development of the Reference Framework of the Competences for Democratic Culture and for local and regional exchanges, co-operation and peer learning. “The students are thrilled to have received the equipment and very much look forward to future activities”, said Blaženka Gardavski Jović, an English teacher and student mentor from the Gymnasium in Mostar.

In the coming period, students will also be able to use the equipment to participate in a series of online chatrooms focusing on celebrating human rights and democracy which will be moderated by the Center for educational initiatives “Step by Step” from Sarajevo. “The chatrooms create spaces for students to freely express their opinions on subjects important for their education, but also to hear the opinions of their peers thus practicing the culture of dialogue and learning from each other”, said Step co-ordinator Adnan Pripoljac.

first chatroom for students will take place online on 2 December and will focus on the question of what type of education do students want in their schools. The chatroom series will continue throughout December on a weekly basis with the second one planned already for 10 December (Human Rights Day) on the topic of ensuring student participation in schools.

The action “Quality education for all” is a part of the joint European Union and the Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, implemented by the Council of Europe.