Primary schools in all regions of Slovakia consider the biggest problem of the time to be the growing level of aggression among their students. Both psychological and physical bullying appear here already in the first level of primary school. The most frequent problems between students are especially vulgarity, ingrained negative stereotypes in behavior toward classmates of Romani ethnicity, discrimination of children on the basis of belonging to a lower social class, as well as envy, unhealthy rivalry, and theft.

All the steps teachers have so far taken to stop this trend have, however, turned out to be ineffective. An alternative solution was offered to them by the fairy-tale book “Toys Go to School”, which is devoted to children's rights. It was published by the civic association Paradysio within the project Support for the Education and Upbringing of Children in the Area of Human Rights, which was supported by the Government Office of the Slovak Republic in 2012.

A group of twenty pedagogical mediators decided to carry out a project whose primary purpose was to familiarize children with their rights and to learn mutual respect and tolerance within the class community. Because of the children’s young age, the issue of children’s rights was explained in an age-appropriate way through the aforementioned fairy-tale book. It also contained illustrations intended for coloring. The children responded to the project with unusual enthusiasm: they said they loved the stories very much and continued reading with interest even during breaks. Later they eagerly joined the discussion, and teachers observed that they automatically applied their favorite passages from the stories in peer relationships as well. The pupils were genuinely interested in the lives of children from poor countries mentioned in the book. For example, they proactively suggested that the crayons they received for coloring the books should instead be sent to their peers in Afghanistan.

Through the project, the mediators demonstrated that the situation in Slovak primary schools is solvable and that children can understand not only that they have their rights, but also the related duties. They recommended to teachers that in the future they should introduce interactive teaching methods and involve both girls and boys in role-play scenes on the topic. In this case, it is precisely taking on the role of a direct participant that is most relevant for a child’s psychology. Visualization of the issues addressed and dramatization of model situations proved to be an effective tool for engaging the attention of first-grade students. The project creators also see potential in producing short animated fairy tales on the theme of children’s rights, based on the model of the globally successful French animated series about the human body “There Was Once a Life”. They also suggest further development of web portals with concrete activities that children could do together with family members. Parents play a significant role in shaping the personality of their children, and they should teach them to be considerate of others’ needs while also advocating their own rights. The Paradysio association’s project confirmed the truth of the idea that compassion, love, togetherness, and respect are inherent human qualities, but they need to be properly supported and developed from a young age. The secret of success is, after all, simple: a return to fairy tales.