In Transcarpathia, screenings of documentaries as a part of the 14th Traveling International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA are continuing. And this year, the festival program involves open events for all the city’s residents and looks into students’ classrooms at both universities and high schools.

The films screened for young audience included The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov, Jamala’s struggle, See You Later and The War of Chimeras.

The screenings were accompanied by discussions, a presentation of I HAVE THE RIGHT!, a human rights education project of the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice, and classes on human rights with a well-known human rights advocate Oleksandr Voytenko.

At the seminar titled Student Self-Government and Children’s Rights, which was based at the High School Student Media Center and lasted for two days, deputy principals, teachers-organizers and members of the student collectives of all the Uzhgorod schools worked on the same team. In the two days of work, an honest and equal dialogue was established between the teenagers and the adults. A human rights advocate, a member of an NGO MART Oleksandr Voytenko managed to communicate to the educators an important topic of human and children’s rights in the contemporary world, and discuss with them the complex and unusual legal relationships between teachers, parents and students.

In particular, in the discussion on the topic My Rights: How to Protect Them, Oleksandr Voytenko talked about how students should respond to teachers’ criticism, how teachers should respond to comments from parents, what should be done to avoid conflict at school. When the problem was considered more closely, it became apparent that the point is to search for the way of resolving the conflict which would satisfy all sides to a largest possible extent. Adults should renounce arrogance in their relationships with teenagers. Outdated methods of educating children no longer work, because in the contemporary society schoolchildren do not accept iron discipline, they demand respect and partnership from adults.

The teacher-organizer of the Leader Lyceum, Tetiana Kotlan, noted that thanks to her new knowledge in human rights, from now on she will try to take into account children’s opinions while planning her work, that is, conduct surveys to find out what the students, rather than the school administration, need.

Students were the most interested in the classes called The Choice We Make and My Participation in Decision Making: The Possibilities of Student Self-Government. In particular, a student of Uzhgorod General School No. 8, Viktoria Kovach, noted, “After our work at the seminar I realized that if somebody will try to violate children’s rights, I will be able to protect myself to some extent.” Natalia Savko, the student of the Uzhgorod General School No. 6, believes that thanks to the opportunity to participate in the seminar, she now understands the principle of student self-government better. “I used to think that the principle was based on the process when the teacher-organizer comes and gives ideas to children. And we, the children, are supposed to implement them without the right to choose and without asking questions. Thank you for helping me understand that we can decide something ourselves,” noted the schoolgirl.

After participating in discussions on the topics Self-service or Self-government and Why We Need Self-government, the teacher-organizer of Uzhgorod General School No. 8 Viktoria Domyshche said that she would definitely be able to make the smallest steps now, to give children more right to choose. Maybe the traditional core will remain, but something new will also be attached to it. It is also very important to engage principals and parents in such seminars.

“These workshops are very energizing. We’ve been working for two days, but we don’t feel it, because everything is so accessible, clear, all the details… The knowledge we obtained is very useful. I want to share it with someone. Not just with my peers, but also, maybe, to come to school and tell the teachers, the deputies… to suggest that they implement all these ideas in our contemporary life,” summed up a student of Uzhgorod General School No. 15 Andriy Grabovchak.

Photos: Natalia Savko, Maria Symkovych, Maria Mendzhul