An inter-school debate in Shumen reveals the importance of voting for the European Parliament
“Amalipe” Center has started a new initiative for interschool debates, which will be organized and held together with the youth groups for tolerance and civic participation. The first interschool debate, which is part of the initiative, took place on Europe Day. The beginning was set at 3:00 p.m., for the gathered students in the Conference Hall of the Traiko Simeonov Secondary School, with the playing of the European anthem.
The team of “Traiko Simeonov” Secondary School, Shumen was represented by Denis Kadenkov – 10th grade, Antonio Georgiev – 9th grade, and Furkan Aleidin – 9th grade, and the opposing team of the Professional High School of Agriculture and Food Technologies, Shumen was with speakers Plamen Greshkov – 10th grade, Vasilena Stoyanova – 10th grade and Monika Stoyanova – 10th grade, engaged in a debate on the topic “It is important to vote in the European Parliament elections”.
After the draw of lots, the representatives of the teams thought in the direction of “For” and “Against” the importance of the vote. Among the arguments of the high school students from the “Against” team were presented conclusions such as “We young people do not know the candidates”, “they are corrupt” and that “even if they vote, then the young people are left with the feeling that they have been deceived”.The youth from the “For” team very quickly instilled faith in their opponents, in the audience and the jury, that it is important to vote by pointing out the fact that campaigns are being made to get to know the European institutions on platforms such as “Youtube”, which are widely used from young people, that whoever does not vote, lets someone else choose for him, and that the non-voter has no right to claim afterwards. They emphasized that the voice of young people is important and that only in this way they can achieve a changed and united Europe.
The five-member jury, which included teachers, educational mediators and the regional coordinator of the “Amalipe” Center – Silvia Stancheva, monitored compliance with the regulation, and finally summarized and emphasized the importance of young people to be informed, to learn respect and equality, as well as to increase their civic activity and participate in the upcoming elections.
Through the inter-school debates, an increase in the activity and participation in the elections for the European Parliament of young people and the Roma community is achieved, providing the necessary tools and motivation to participate in the political processes of the European Union, as well as an effort to build greater awareness and commitment among these groups.
The objectives of the debates are:
• To develop the skills of young people to present a reasoned statement and defend it; to attract arguments to overthrow the opposing side
• to show young people the culture of meaningful, constructive and evidence-based public debate on key public policies – how to conduct a debate in which participants defend these and present substantive arguments without violating personal dignity.
• To increase the civic activity and awareness of young people, especially young people from remote settlements, about the importance of the European Parliament elections and their participation in them.
The inter-scholl debate is part of the project “EMPOWEREU: Fostering participation of youth and vulnerable groups in the EU elections” funded by the European Parliament. The authors are fully responsible for the content of the episode and the European Parliament is not responsible for the use of the information therein.
