The pupils who last week took part in workshops organised in the premises of the municipal institution Youth Centre, have had an opportunity today to attend the roundtable in the city hall and discuss their position in the society and participation rights with the representatives of local administration, the Education Agency, the media, certain schools, and non-government organisations.
The head of the Department of Education and Schooling, Branka Renko-Silov emphasised the importance of participation and proactive action on the part of children and youth in the society, pointing out that it is pity that the Republic of Croatia is among rare countries in Europe that has not introduced Civic education as a compulsory subject at schools. Furthermore, the projects and programmes supported by the City of Rijeka were presented, which for many years already have been aimed, either directly or indirectly, at helping young people to develop proactive thinking.
Ingrid Šestan, journalist who for a number of years has been following the topics relating to the education system in the daily newspaper Novi list, pointed out that the media much contribute to raising awareness about children's rights. She emphasised that at the same time there are reckless journalists and editors, who by infringing the Media Law and the Code of Honour, violate the rights to identity protection, one of the key rights of every individual.

In discussion, most questions put by curious pupils related to directors of elementary schools, while the topics the pupils were interested in included violation of right to privacy, problems relating to the use of mobile phones, the internet, emphasising, in particular, the omnipresent Facebook.
(M.J.)