Brussels, 03/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - More than 80 schools from 20 Member States from the Council of Europe participated in an electronic vote on whether to have more participation from European secondary school students in the decision-making process. The initiative finished at the end of October with a majority of over 94% approving a new "European Charter for Democratic and Non-violent Schools, which as carried out with the collaboration of the region of Geneva in Switzerland. The charter was set up by secondary school students and mainly aims to promote democratic learning in practice at school. In an effort to improve the school climate, elected representatives from the secondary schools will be expected to introduce full voting rights for important decisions, such as for example, those focusing on conflict solutions in schools.
The practical implementation of this charter will be the subject of discussions in 2005, the year when the Council of Europe is dedicated to education and democratic citizenship.