We are all different and unique from birth. This is a miracle and we should learn to appreciate it as such; this uniqueness should be celebrated amongst people and not be the root of fighting and negativity or even hatred. As mentioned above, stereotypes and stagnant beliefs are most often adopted by people as a result of the way they have been brought up; the way their families behaved is usually copied and repeated instinctively and people are not even aware of the impact of this behavior. This is why young schoolchildren need to be educated to reflect upon the way they think; to spot the types of behavior which are unreasonably hostile and negative and to develop the necessary skills in order to make the best of our world. Young people nowadays may have access to almost everything through the internet; this may be a useful tool in opening up their horizons, learning and adopting new ideas, new attitudes. Immigration is another aspect which necessarily brings people from different cultures, nationalities, ethnic backgrounds together.
This programme involves five partner countries: Greece, Turkey, Romania, Portugal and Bulgaria which will collaborate on a number of tasks and activities in order to provide the children with the necessary learning environments where they will learn through practice and reflection to live together peacefully; to accept and respect; to tolerate and be tolerated.
The ‘learning’ ability is often a characteristic considered either as positive or negative by children; because of this, some children may be bullied and live in fear, develop low self-esteem or have violent break-outs. Other children may develop negative behavior by becoming bullies, exercising verbal, psychological and physical violence. Both groups ruin their lives because they are stressed and uncertain of themselves. In the end they may have more similarities than they would ever consider. This is why this program aims towards helping children recognize these negative behaviors and avoid them by giving them alternative activities through which they can develop social skills which will help them have a balanced happy life; to set their priorities in order to improve their lifestyle instead of spoiling their valuable time with hatred and friction.
This program therefore will involve about 360 students of different disciplines, both genders aged 14- 18 as well as teachers and school counselors and educational psychologists who will take this project further into long term planning of the school curriculum. As has already been mentioned this is a crucial age when young people are forming their personality and it is a very good time to work towards building a personality which will have more positive than negative aspects, which will provide the youngster with the traits for a balanced democratic future active citizen. A citizen who will have an open mind, free from bias and misconception and prejudice.
