Táto publikácia prezentuje výsledky Eurobarometru 2007 zameraného na mládež. Je to prvý Eurobarometer, ktorý reflektuje názory mládeže vo všetkých 27 štátoch EU a obsahuje informácie o tom čo si mládež myslí o EU samotnej.
Case studies:
We have chosen to study two cities: Prešov and Zvolen
Prešov is a significant economic and administrative centre of eastern Slovakia. After the town got its town rights, the leading activities were concentrated in the centre. They had an impact only on the surround towns but later it was spreaded on the whole region. The position of the town is on located on the former important trade routes. Prešov is the third largest town in Slovakia. It has 91205 inhabitants. Government offices have a residency in Prešov. It is also the centre of Prešov autonomous region, that is the largest region in Slovakia. The important road and rail ways go through Prešov and lead to Poland and Ukraine. The closest cities are (according to the air distances in km) : Košice (38), Užhorod (96), Miškolc (115), Tarnow (128), Budapest (250), Bratislava (345). The historic centre of town is a national cultural landmark.
Presov has a long tradition in education. There are 22 elementary schools that have about 14 000 pupils. There are also alternative schools – religious, private schools (some private schools are public). High schools are highly developed. There are 37 high schools in Presov. Presov is a significant university centre. It is seat of the Presov University with The Philosophical Faculty, The Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, The Pedagogical Faculty, The Healthcare Faculty, The Greek-Catholic Theological Faculty and The Orthodox Theological Faculty. The Tourism and Hotel Management Institute is a part of the university too. The Producing Technologies Faculty of the Technical University of Kosice with the seat in Presov provides technical education. There are 5 000 students studying at various faculties.
The Public Scientific Library is a very important institution. It supports the educational activities in Presov. It has a multimedia centre, on-line data base access and public internet access. It provides individual retrieval searching as well. It is a seat of European Council Information Centre and The German Consultant Language Centre.
Zvolen is a significant centre of centern Slovakia. Zvolen is an important railway junction and crossroads of the road transport. The nearby airport of Sliač and its daily service between Prague and Sliač opens even more its way into the world. Zvolen is an administrative, economic and cultural centre of Pohronie (the Hron River Valley). It is a district seat with an area of 759 square kilometres, with almost 68 thousand inhabitants, and it borders on seven other districts of the Banská Bystrica region. It is the twelfth most populous town of Slovakia that in 1923 became for five years the seat of Zvolen County and has been continuously the district seat since then. The oldest part of the town is the present Námestie SNP (SNP Square) at an altitude of approximately 295 metres above sea level. In 2001 its reconstruction started. Nowadays it is a modern pedestrian zone and the centre of social life.
Nowadays Zvolen is a seat of several prosperous businesses, quality elementary and secondary schools and also the Technical University that is the only one in Slovakia that educates experts in the wood-processing area.
Culture is represented by the J.G. Tajovsky Theatre with its permanent scene as well as by the tens of dance, theatre, song and musical groups which spread a good reputation of the town in Slovakia and foreign countries as well.
Emerging issue
We have chosen to focus on the question of Participation of young people on school’s self-government
The realisation of young peoples activities is mainly possible due to the legal frameworks ensuring young people the right to associate based on democratic principles (the Act on the association no. 83/1990 Coll., Act no. 85/2005 Coll. on political parties and movements, the Act on the associating of citizens no. 84/1991 Coll., Act no. 242/1998 on the right to petition and the Act no. 460/1992 on elections). According to these legal norms, citizens can establish associations, organizations, movements, clubs and unions, freely associate in these, vote for representatives, initiate petitions etc
The most significant legislative measure issued after the year 2002 is the Act on universities no. 131/2002 Coll. and the Act no. 596/2003 on state administration in education and educational self-government. The article No. 26 of this Act named “Student school Council” allows to students:
Decisions made by the student school councils at secondary schools and/or student councils or academic senates at universities concern all students without distinction. It is a completely different situation, compared to the impact of decisions adopted by a youth civic association, which usually concerns only its members.
According to Eurydice (Brussels 2005) research in many countries of EU, often the only discussion on citizenship in schools takes place in specific social-science lessons on politics, which students describe as “mundane”. The French and Italian reports for UP2YOUTH project both show the important limits that exist in the training to participation. In both countries training to participate is not yet an integrated issue in a school system that is still characterised by traditional methods. The Slovak and Austrian reports for UP2YOUTH project both show important structural opportunities to learning participation in school by doing democracy. Empirical data from Austria and Slovakia show significantly different results because the institute of the school students council is still not established well enough in the Slovakia. Is non existant pupil representation within each Federal Region and also Federal pupil representation as in Austria.
The Action plan on youth policy for the year 2005 in Slovakia included as a priority the “Support of education towards active citizenship and youth participation“ and the goal to „create structural opportunities, which enable civic and political participation of young people on decision-making on issues, which are of importance to them and support their involvement and active participation on the life of their community“.
This explains why the Ministry of Education – ME SR, its Department of Youth Affairs has begun to focus the attention of the sociological survey of youth also on student school councils as an “non-formal school of democracy” paradoxically in the school environment. Student councils at high schools, academic senates at universities should, based on the legislative provisions, become structures providing opportunities „learning democracy“, with all parameters of the European Commission programme Education towards democratic citizenship (EDC), which was being presented in 2005 through the „Year of educating youth towards European citizenship”.
Representative sociological survey of secondary school and university students that was carried out on a survey sample of secondary school (870 respondents) and university (829 respondents) youth in October 2005 in Slovakia brought interesting information about their participation on the autonomous life of their schools. Participation of students gains a very typical form – most students know that there is school board in the school (75-80%), significantly less number attends its discussions, even less number joins the elections (30%) and the least number of students stand as candidates (11%) and really work in the self-government of the school. However this is a basis of a functioning representative democracy.
Expectations of the students as far as the activities of ŽSR are concerned were as follows: area of service on the school and after-school hobby interests, but also the need to develop students´ professional and scientific activities and task to equip school with modern teaching aid technology.
The Governmental Action plan on youth policy for the year 2005 in Slovakia
