| Posted: May 01 2005,19:10 |
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PROGRESS: Has your organization seen
progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain of
action and in your constituency during the first half of the Decade? |
See actions below
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OBSTACLES: What are the most important obstacles that have prevented progress?
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Yet
we can see that despite visible progress in the direction of peace at
our school, constant affords of the administration and the teachers
there are still rather significant amount of behavior offence,
lack of motivation for study, disbelief in future realization.
During last 2 years we can see that the cases of aggression are
growing among a definite part of students, often between
students of different schools and not only boys but girls are involved.
The reasons of these negative facts we see in the following:
1)
The period of the passage from one political, social and economical
system to the democratization of the society and building a new system
and new values is rather long. These were 15 years of suspense,
insecurity for many of those who became parents at this period and
whose children are now our students.
2) Some of those parents lost
their job because of the restriction of labor market and were forced to
look for luck in bigger cities or abroad. Their children in most cases
are left under supervising of their relatives that due to different
reasons can’t always control them and children are left to themselves.
3)
Many parents who live and work in town are mostly interested in family
physical survival or financial prosperity and pay very little time to
spiritual part of their relationship with children. Many of them have
mobile telephones, well dressed, have rather big amount of pocket money
but their souls are empty. There is a tendency of distortion of values.
3) During this period we can see mass pauperization of the
population but from the other hand many people with big income appeared
on the social arena, children from such families are also our students.
Possibilities to have much for ones and impossibilities for others are
sometimes the reason for envy and conflicts.
Besides Bulgarian
majority we have in school children of Gipsy, Turkish,
Armenian minority that historically live there and the conflicts
are almost never on ethnic but on interpersonal base.
4)
Being left to themselves and having easy and very often still
uncontrolled assess to Internet, children spend more and more
time in computer clubs or at home in front of a computer playing games
or watching films which contents is full with violence and
aggression .At school or in the street some of them pretend being super
heroes or criminals from their favorite films and games.
5)
Ministry of education like many other institutions in Bulgaria doesn’t
demonstrate much stability and very often change their politics
in secondary education, as requirements, programs, exam and evaluation
system, textbooks that doesn’t add to the stability in teachers’
and students’ work.
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ACTIONS: What actions have been
undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the first half of the Decade?
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I’m
Natalia Rasheva, a coordinator of UNESCO club of comprehensive school
"Vicho Grancharov", Gorna Oriahovitsa, Bulgaria. Our club is named
"Friendly Horizons" and under this name we participated in UNESCO
"Mondialogo" project last year.
The school with 115 teachers and
1120 students provides specialized education in music, fine arts and
computer technologies. It gives students large possibilities for
expression of their professional and personal interests and gives
access to participation in numerous national, international and local
programs and projects and also direct contacts with young people from
other countries.
All this contributes to creation, maintaining
and overcoming obstacles in the direction of Culture of peace at
school, developing students’ interest, tolerance and understanding of
different cultures, helps them to better realize their own national
identity and personality.
Common work of students of different
age and classes together with their teachers in preparation of
concerts, contests and exhibitions and realization of projects leads to
building of abilities for team work, unites and generates ideas and
creates friendly and respectful atmosphere among themselves and
students and teachers.
Last few years were very fruitful in this direction. These are some of the most significant activities:
1)
Introducing optional course of English in school curricular for
11-12 class students "Culture study"-since 2001-to present
2)
Realization of program "European lessons" on the motto "Europe is more
than you think" providing civil education and
knowledge of European laws for teachers and students,
initiated by NGO "Youth Tolerance" in the terms of Bulgarian
future enter the EU.- 2004-2005.
3) Project "European initiatives for equal possibilities"-2005
4) Project "He and She-equal in sex and love"-2004
5)
International youth projects "Balkans without borders’, with the
college "Anastaseskou", Romania providing youth exchange in the
area of art, music and computer technologies, during workshops and
camps in Bulgaria and Romania, started in 2003 to present.
6)
International project initiated by our school together with the State
Agency of Youth and Sports with the students from a similar school of
Estonia "Earth, Water and Fire", providing a three-day
workshop on Bulgarian seaside-summer 2004.
7)
Project "Communication without borders" that gave the opportunity
for learning Spanish and Japanese with native speakers-2004-to present
8)
Youth exchange programs with schools from Cherepovets, Russia;
Varen ,Germany; Tssaloniki, Greece; with the exchange of works of young
artists-a book published as a result of this common work in the
discovering of each other.-2003-to present.
9) Concert
program dedicated to 60-anniversary of Great victory prepared by our
students in Russian, which is studied as second foreign language,
collected all town community.
10) Participation in
international and local contests where many of our students were
distinguished with rewards and diplomas.
a) literary:
-"Children of Bulgaria-guarantee for protection of nature and cultural and historical Heritage"-2002
-"To save the world"," My family and I", "Orpheus-my dream"-2003-2004
-"Role of women in social life of our town"-2004
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Editing of school book, including works of young artists and writers on
the motto" Save the Earth
today- tomorrow will be late-" since 2002-to present
-Editing of
school newspaper, initiated by students, and describing the events of
school routine, including topics of ethic and aesthetic concern and
creative students’ works.
b) artistic:
-National art contest "
This is my Motherland", the works of our students were exhibited
in the ----National Museum" Earth and People"-2002
-International
contest organized by the foundation ‘ Shanker",India, students
rewarded with gold and silver medals-2002-2003
-Participation in the exhibition"Earth ,tradition and future"-2003
Participation
in 13th art contest, organized by foundation for Universe Peace and
Ecology, Japan and United Nation Ecological Program on the motto "To
save oceans, sky and forests for future"
Individual exhibitions in Japanese Embassy, National Art Gallery "I saw sorrow with my eyes"-2003, 2004
Contest for young children" Birds in their natural environment"
aiming the building of bird houses and putting them in town parks.
Children from 1-4 classes wrote messages to their French
partners concerning the problems of peace and
understanding and sent them in a form of pigeons-2003
The
school ecological club" Terra "is very often initiator of
school and municipal ecological actions and activities. The last
one devoted to the World Earth Day this year became a real event where
many representatives of other schools took part under forms of
different contests like creation a Multi Media products, flower
exhibition, essay writing, poster designing. A symbolic tree was
planted with the message to future generation- 2005
Participation in the project "Green Packet", started last year in
Hungary, actions in planting, cleaning, waste collecting.-2004-2005
Realization
of the project, sponsored by Japanese foundation "JIKA" led to
reconstruction of old school building into the center for social
and art activities that should add to better conditions in
development of their creative abilities, social and personal
experience, involvement of bigger number of students and make
their leisure more purposeful.
By the end of May the building of the
lift for disabled children will have been finished at school. It will
give to such children the possibility to study in regular classes and
socialize among their peers and on the other hand, it will be a
practical way for others to learn how to be kinder, more tolerant and
helpful.
Very useful for organizing school activities are ideas,
proposed in Life-link manual. Following the calendar of UNESCO we
celebrate the dates and organize actions under different forms.
Poster- "Keep our planet clean" April 22, 2005
Poster- "We are all different- we are all alike" April 22, 2005
Ikebana contest, April 22, 2005
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ADVICE: What advice would you like to
give to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly to promote a
culture of peace and nonviolence during the second half of the Decade? |
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PARTNERSHIPS: What partnerships and
networks does your organization participate in, thus strengthening the
global movement for a culture of peace? |
1) Russian comprehensive school, Kohtla Iarve-Estonia
2) College "Anastassescou", Rishiori di Vede -Romania
3) Grammar school for girls, Cherepovets- Russia
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PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence in the second half of the Decade (2005-2010)? |
Despite
the obstacles to the progress in a direction of culture of peace
at our school, we don’t give up and look forward with hope that our
common affords- teachers and students, will give positive results and
we’ll become equal members of big European family.
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Postal address of organization
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Comprehensive school “Vicho Grancharov”, N6, Tsar Osvoboditel, Gorna Oriahovitsa, 5100 Bulgaria
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E-mail address of organization
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nat_bg@mail.ru-personal
souvg@gelesoft.com
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Website address of organization
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www. gelesoft.com/schools/souvg
www. souvg.hit.bg
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Highest priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Education for a culture of peace
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Second priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Understanding, tolerance, solidarity
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Highest priority country of action (or international)
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international
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Second priority country of action (or international)
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international
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