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Description
Town Halls is an educational program which consists of an interactive debate about democracy, security, and freedom with speakers Petr Pavel and Petr Kolář. The project aims to explain and discuss current topics with high school students in order to better their civic participation, motivate them to participate in a civic society, to become active citizens and understand how democracy operates. Though a curriculum in civics may provide a formal knowledge of voting processes and of development of democracy in history, it provides only an abstract notion which does not fully render it to the audience. It is also dependent on the teachers and their energy (and also on the type of the school or its location) and hence, students are not often explained the notion of active citizenship and its role in democracy. This is the issue that the projects aims to improve through in interactive debate as a thought-provoking format rather than a static monologue. We consider the engagement of the younger generation in political debates a vital factor of a democratic society, since it allows at this particular age to shape a long-life active approach towards society, democracy and voting processes associated with it. Therefore, we target primarily high schools, where we introduce to the young voters the importance of their participation in initiatives, debates, and referendums, and through discussion motivate them to critical thinking and active citizenship. Via a network of existing contacts and shaping new contacts with new schools, plus a social media campaign, schools will be targeted for this round of debates. The concept will be updated with respect to regional issues or particular political or sociological phenomena related with the given locality. The debate itself usually takes approx. 2 school lessons and will take place in person, or in case of covid restrictions via Zoom. It is usually divided into a short monological part and a discussion part.
Summary of project results
Youth Council considers the most important impact of the Town Halls project to be its contribution to an increased awareness of high school students of local as well as global public affairs. We strongly feel the importance of the young generation''s inclusion into public affairs in Czechia as well as on the level above individual countries, and we realize that a true democracy is only a democracy where the voices of all generations are heard. The organization contributed to the presentation and contextualization of the importance of civic participation, and the right and interest to actively participate in political debates and decisions in one''s region and country. Project Town Halls actively contributed to the interest of the young generation to become curious about the current situation, debate current topics, and become involved in decision making. The Youth Council then analyzed this interest through feedback from students, both directly in person after the debates as well as afterwards through a questionnaire sent to the schools. Student response is critical for securing the continuity of the Town Halls project in the upcoming years - thanks to the organization of the debates and sharing the activity on our social media and website, two regional high schools have already requested Town Halls to take place on their premises. Based on the highly positive feedback from both the schools and the guest, both debates were greatly successful. The organization expects similar interest in the project for the rest of the year. One great success of the project was the feedback that several students mentioned both in person directly after the debates as well as in the questionnaire, that the Town Halls debate opened their eyes regarding the fragility of democracy, or even helped them decide during the presidential elections.