Over 200 students from four schools from Skopje – ASUC “Boro Petrushevski”, SEPUGS “Arseni Jovkov”, SGGUGS “Zdravko Cvetkovski” and SUGS “Brakja Miladinovci” – jointly organized a youth action in the schoolyard of “Arseni Jovkov”. The action followed as a result of their meetings over the past several months at which they identified the challenges and the possible solutions for the purposes of improving the conditions at their schools.
Students from various ethnicities worked simultaneously on multiple interesting activities. Some of them drew graffiti with motivational messages on the wall of the school, while others transfigured the sports ground – marked it with lines and placed goals with nets.
The young people also placed benches for recreational purposes during the breaks, as well as garbage bins. In order to raise the environmental protection awareness, they did some landscaping at the schoolyard by planting trees and other plants.
“We landscaped the schoolyard and we made sure that it looks nicer. While doing so, we were helped by students from the other schools. We had a really great time, we made new friends and I feel really lucky for being a part of all this”, says Marija, a student from the secondary school “Arseni Jovkov”.
“The students from the other schools were helping us as if this were their own school. Together, we demarcated the football pitch and we drew graffiti. We are also going to pay a visit to the other schools in order to contribute for a better future and for better schools”, added her friend Nedime from the same school.
This action contributed for students from various ethnicities to become even closer to each other and to further enhance their mutual cooperation. The students succeeded in implementing their ideas, while emphasizing the importance of youth activism. They are looking forward to the forthcoming actions in the other three secondary schools.
The action was supported by the City of Skopje and the USAID Youth Ethnic Integration Project, in cooperation with the Youth Educational Forum.
This activity is part of the Youth Ethnic Integration Project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
This article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of MCEC and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
