More and more schools in Slovakia are gradually becoming familiar with global education. At the same time, students and teachers do not have the opportunity to learn about current world issues firsthand, that is, directly from their peers in developing countries. Information is often distorted and fragmentary, offering our—often stereotypical—view of global issues. But how do our partners in developing countries perceive these global issues? The Twin School project is looking for the answer to this very question.
The aim of the three-year project, which involves schools from Estonia, Sweden, Great Britain, Slovakia and Afghanistan, is not only to inform students about the Millennium Development Goals and current development topics, but also to develop their critical thinking, to become aware of the interconnectedness between developed and developing countries, and to change our behavior through engaging experiential activities for students.
What is unique about this project is that it is implemented in cooperation with Afghan schools, so Slovak students can not only learn about current global problems and their solutions, but also be in contact with Afghan schools. This allows them to get to know this distant country better and learn more about it than the stereotypical reports presented in the media. At the same time, using one concrete country as an example, students will be able to delve into the global topics and relationships that connect us with developing countries.
In the first year, 5 secondary schools and 3 primary schools in Slovakia joined the project, each of which was assigned a partner school in Afghanistan. The main motivation for Slovak teachers to participate in the project was especially the opportunity to discover another culture and the desire to learn more about Afghanistan and global topics than what is usually offered by negatively framed reports.
“Today it is no longer difficult to establish a partnership with schools in other European countries. However, connecting with an Afghan school and having the chance to discuss directly with Afghan students is unique and one-of-a-kind for our students,” says Ján Andris from the Obchodná Akadémia in Dolný Kubín.
Project activities are diverse. In the autumn of 2009, Afghan days were held at several Slovak schools. Students had the chance to learn about Afghanistan in creatively adapted classrooms. There was traditional Afghan food, sports, kite-making, and presentations of traditional women's clothing—burqas. Two Slovak schools (OA Dolný Kubín and Gymnázium vo Vrábľoch) even managed direct communication with Afghan peers via Skype video calls.
“We realized that the difference is that we have everything we need, while our classmates in Afghanistan have to travel 100 kilometres just to connect with us. And girls cannot even attend this school, because they are threatened with attacks,” said a Slovak student after a Skype video call with a school in Paktia province, a region largely controlled by the Taliban.
In October 2009, as project coordinator, I visited the partner schools in Afghanistan together with journalist and photographer Andrej Bán, and handed over gifts and teaching aids from Slovak schools. We also organized workshops for Afghan teachers and students. The participants’ reaction to interactive methods surprised me. When women in burqas and a mullah (Islamic religious leader) entered the room, I had expected more measured reactions. The teachers, however, were enthusiastic and repeated that they would use all the methods directly at school. They were pleased that I treat them as partners with whom I exchange experience; they also responded very well to group activities, even though they had not previously been used to working together with female colleagues. Thanks to these activities, they were also able to reevaluate their own prejudices.
Showing Afghanistan differently from how it is usually portrayed in newspapers and television reports will be the goal of a traveling photo exhibition by Afghan students and pupils. Several Slovak donors responded to the chance to exchange their older digital camera for a new viewpoint that the exhibition will offer. Slovak teachers and teachers taking an educational study trip to Afghanistan will certainly gain a “new perspective” as well, and it will also be offered by an educational film that this country will be filmed in within the project by director Sahraa Karimi, of Afghan origin and living in Slovakia.
Andrej Navojský, občianske združenie Človek v ohrození Head of the Global Education section and coordinator of the Twin School project
The article was published in the bulletin Rozvojová pomoc - Jar 2010. It is published by the Platforma mimovládnych rozvojových organizácií (MVRO), which is an association of legal entities—the umbrella organization of 31 (23 ordinary members and 8 observers) Slovak NGOs primarily focused on international development and humanitarian aid.