A new debate “Stories from Untoldville”, was held on 6 June. It was attended by 15 students and two high school students from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to these participants, the reflection was attended by the staff of the BiH Student Council Network. The focus of the debate was on how the coronavirus affects the lives of young people in B&H.
At the beginning of the debate, the participants introduced themselves and got to know each other, thus creating a pleasant working atmosphere. This was followed by an introduction to a topic that is very current among the student population, and it refers to how the coronavirus pandemic affected the daily lives of young people. Students and pupils had an opportunity to present their observations about online teaching, which has taken root in our area in the recent period. On that occasion, both positive and negative sides of online teaching were presented. In addition to this topic, the actions of the government before, during and after the declared state of emergency were also discussed. The participants were also interested in how quarantine affected the mental health of the population.
Through the conversation, the young people also touched on the media manipulation which, as they concluded, was very present in the past period. After completing the second part of the debate on media manipulation with news, the participants formed groups. They were given the task to single out the good and bad decisions that the government made during the pandemic. Working in small groups enabled participants to exchange views and opinions and cooperate with each other. After 15 minutes of working in small groups, each group had some time to present their conclusions.
During the civic debate, young people were encouraged to think critically, exchange their views and present arguments that would help them face different views. Despite the rational conflict of opinion, the participants showed willingness to understand others.
After a brief evaluation, the discussion ended after two hours and fifteen minutes. Breaking through the allotted debate time proved the great interest of the participants, who rated the event as very high quality. They pointed out that they would like to participate in similar activities again.
B/H/S