Zagreb - Listen to the people, take the side of the weak, strengthen economy, decrease unemployment, stop moving abroad – these are just some of the “tasks” Croatian scholars would tackle if they were MPs.
Scholars from Vukovar, Tuhelj and Čakovec recognize unemployment as Croatia and their home town’s hardest problem, warning that there are many parents not working, many families hardly affording essentials to their children. “Every year there is one or two families moving abroad from my school”, says Nikolina Šibalić from Vukovar. If she were an MP, she would motion a long-term employment plan and employment of at least one person from every family.
Luka Mađer from Zagreb warns about the pensions which are too low illustrating it by his grandmother’s example, who after 40 years of work has only few Kunas to live with after paying all the overhead expenses.
Ana Zadro from Vukovar presents her idea of building the “School of Peace” in her home town. It would be the most beautiful school in Croatia where children of all nationalities would go to the same school, Ana says, explaining that today Croats and Serbs go to different schools in Vukovar.
Scholars described the good MP as they see them. They must listen to the people, be fair and work for community and not just themselves, attend the sessions regularly and be responsible.
Children’s Parliament “If I were an MP in the Croatian Parliament...” was organized in the context of experimental Civic Education Curriculum Program with the aim to encourage development of civic competences and educate young people to be pro-active when discussing social issues.
Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Josip Leko, after carefully listening to the scholars, said that they had clearly marked general problems of the Croatian society emphasizing with pleasure that Croatia has been in good hands.