1.
Colegiul National
Mihai Eminescu,
Mihai Eminescu National
College,
Baia Mare, Romania, the
coordinating institution
is situated in the NW of
the country , in a
region where the mining
industry used to be the
main economic industry
developed in the area.
Due to the recession
following the closing
down of mines, many
people from the area
became unemployed. Thus,
the population of
Maramures was
dramatically affected by
this situation and many
parents left their homes
for searching a job
abroad. As a consequence
many children remained
with their grandparents
and brothers or sisters.
This situation had a
negative impact upon
their school results.
The staff of Mihai
Eminescu National
College, fully aware of
the economic situation
in the area, is trying
to find the best
solutions in order to
help their students
overcome the present day
difficulties and raise
the quality in
education.
One of the paths taken
is that of elaborating a
strategy for involving
it in European
partnerships, meant to
find answers to their
problems by
collaborating with
schools from other
countries faced with
similar problems. The
results of the work in
European partnerships
were recognized by the
Romanian Ministry of
Education and Research
by awarding it the title
of European School 2004.
The new policy of the
school is to involve
more and more young
teachers in such
projects in order to
help them improve their
competences and teaching
techniques with a direct
impact upon the quality
of education and for a
better insertion on the
labour market.
Another issue is that of
trying to make parents
become more active in
supporting the school
policy, for the benefit
of their children and
for raising the quality
in education.
Kaiu Põhikool
Kaiu is situated 65 km
from our capital city
Tallinn, to the south.
It is a country
settlement with about
700 hundred people. We
live among picturesque
forests, swamps and bogs
where you can walk on
specially built
footpaths.
Our pupils are mostly
from three different
villages – Kaiu,
Kuimetsa and Vahastu.
A school bus takes them
who live far away to
school and home– some
live 25 km from school.
Our students get free
lunch at school, the
state pays for it.
All our students are
Estonians. We have only
some families where one
parent is from another
nation.
We have a lot of out of
school activities for
our students – sport,
folk dancing clubs,
choirs, music school
where they can play the
piano and violin; a
sport ground, a shooting
gallery, and a swimming
pool in summer. Our
teachers organise
theatre, museum visits
and trips all over
Estonia for the students
but only a small group
is interested or they
simply do not have
money.
Kaiu is a former big
collective farm where
most of the people were
collective farmers. Now
the collective farm does
not exist any more
people had to find work
somewhere else. We have
a small agricultural
cooperation, a seaming,
a labels making, a metal
work and a truck
companies. But all of
them are very small
enterprises and so many
people have to find work
further – in cities or
abroad. A lot of
educated people have
moved away. Quite a lot
of our students’ parents
are not very much
educated and do not care
for the progress of
their children or are
unable to support them.
We have unemployed and
antisocial families.
ÖZEL ÜFTADE LİSESİ,
Uşak, Turkey, is
situated in the province
of Uşak which is on the
highway between Ankara,
the capital, and İzmir
and it is at the passage
point of the major three
regions in Turkey:
Mediterranean, Interior
Anatolia and Agean
region. Uşak still has a
scene of an old and
small Atatolian town
with its old houses and
some historical
monuments such as
bazaars, mosques, baths.
Its population is around
150.000 and most of the
inhabitants are
immigrants from the
different parts of
Turkey and there are
some Gypsies here.
Our instutition is
located on the beautiful
part of the highway
which connects Uşak to
İzmir and out of city’s
urban area. It is on the
way between Uşak
Organised Industry Zone
and city centre. It has
got a green landscape
and it is surrounded
with forests. There is a
campus of Kocatepe
University ahead of our
school.
Our school has got
students of various
cultures and abilities.
Due to the fact that our
school is a boarding
school, 50% of our
students are from
neighbouring cities and
regions.
There are also some
students whose families
have gone to European
countries to earn their
living. Some of those
students have grown up
in Europe and they have
difficulty with the
Turkish language. They
have especially
communication problems
in lessons and with
friends. But these
students are very
successful in foreign
language lessons. The
teachers provide extra
assistance for them in
the lessons and
communication. We give
these students some
chances of involvement
in school activities and
facilitate thus the
interaction with other
students.
2.
Kaiu Põhikool,
Rapla County, Estonia
(http://www.kaiu.edu.ee/)
3.
ÖZEL ÜFTADE LİSESİ,
Uşak, Turcia
(http://uftadelisesi.k12.tr/)