Belluno, 13 May 2024 – “Mayor for a day” Monday at Palazzo Rosso: small citizens taking part in an active citizenship lesson in the city council hall. The meeting will involve the children of the fifth class of the Badilet primary school and will be the first experimental appointment of a project that will develop more widely during the next school year.
The objective of the educational path, included in the Belluno Children’s and Youth programming, is to bring the new generations closer to active citizenship, reduce the perceived distance between young people and institutions and promote knowledge of the functioning of government bodies starting from the Mayor , by the Executive and the Municipal Council.
“After introducing the Mayor’s Wednesdays, we thought for a long time about a tailor-made proposal for children too, to allow them to come into contact with the institutions, to understand a little about how the Municipality works and to become passionate about the theme of commitment civic – explains the First Citizen -. Inclusion has always been the key word of this Administration, a term and concept that can be applied to many policies and all sectors, including those of young people. We started by encouraging the creation of the Youth Council, which now operates independently and is working on important projects; Mayor for a Day is designed for primary school children, to really involve everyone.”
“The aims of the initiative are, essentially, to bring us closer to the institutions and civic education – explains the school councilor -, the message is that the institutions are nothing other than us, something or someone distant and with the which cannot be communicated, but they are a subject with which to establish a dialogue, with which to discuss and collaborate to take care of the common good together. The project was drawn up, at our request, by the educators Marta Azzalini, Paola Nard and Valentina Gregato, whom we thank”.
The children will be welcomed in the Council Room by the Councilor and councilor Irene Gallon. The lesson will unfold between explanations related to the role and functions of the Institution and hints of art history. In fact, there will be an introduction to the history of the building that houses the Town Hall, the frescoes of the Council Hall will be illustrated and it will be explained in a simple and brief way how the Municipality works and the roles of each within the Municipal Council.
Once the theoretical explanation is finished, we will move on to the practical part. The students will be divided into groups and each group will be assigned a topic to discuss during the simulated City Council meeting. “A playful and impactful way to explain what happens in these rooms, where important decisions are made for the life of our community – explains the Councilor -. The evolution of the initiative will then be to open the Municipality to children for class assemblies and periodically organize council meetings for children”.
