Constanta School Students Association
| File:Aec logo.jpeg | |
| Founded | June 11, 2013 |
|---|---|
| Key people | Constantin-Alexadru Manda, Board President, George Farauanu, Secretary General Alexandru Bajdechi, Founding President [1] |
| Office location | Constanța, România |
| Website | www |
The Constanța School Students Association (ro: Asociația Elevilor din Constanța, AEC) is the main school student union in Constanța County, Romania.
The organization works to represent the interest and rights of Constanța County school students towards the local authorities, the national Government, and other governmental or non-governmental bodies concerned with secondary-level education. The organization is very active in the national arena, together with the Romanian National School Students Council, in a quasi-informal partnership, but also at the local level, having a significant history of judicial and public fights with the Constanța City Council and mayor over a number of topics rights and perks that the school students have right to, like public transport student discounts and scholarships. AEC is the first independent school students association in Romania and the only one that is accredited at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies.
History[edit]
Constanța School Students Association was founded in Constanța, Romania in June 2013 by the Board members of the Constanța County High-School Students Council, the local branch of the governmental body that also represents the interest of school students at the national level, the National School Students Council. The founding of the Association was seen by many, including the media, as a breakup of the local branch from the National body and even the Association declares itself as the legitimate continuator of the local branch, who was subsequently reconstituted, under the auspices of the County School Inspectorate of Constanța.
The idea of funding a local independent school student union in Constanța County resulted from constant disagreements between the 2011-2013 leadership of Constanța branch of the National School Students Council (NSSC), a GONGO, and national leadership over multiple topics related to internal management aspects and, more importantly, the lack of a cohesive and relevant external strategy and discourse of the NSSC towards the main stakeholders in the educational system. The main disagreement between the two sides consisted in a policy debate surrounding the approach that the Council should adopt to promote and impose its objectives and the perceived interests of Romania's school students. The conservative side argued for low-profile and institutional advocacy that will not endanger the position of the Council, maintaining a friendly relationship with the Ministry of Education. The liberal side advocated for a proactive and, to some degree, syndicalist approach that will claim the "superior interest" of school students in any way possible, but especially through public protests, aggressive mass-media interventions, judicial actions and political lobby.
After the failure of the liberal side to win the change of the NSSC bylaws, when the conservative blocked the reform launched by the liberals, the liberal side decided to start a new national representation framework, through a new national and non-governmental federation that would be formed by non-governmental county school students unions.
As a consequence, the Constanta School Students Association was founded in the summer of 2013, being incorporated in Constanța Municipality and having its bylaws certified by the Constanța County Court on August 28, 2013.
From its founding in 2013, the Association has become an influential stakeholder on almost any topic related to education and the rights of school students in the county but also at the national level, where is actively lobbying for national policies on education and school students rights.
In February 2015, after filing criminal complaints at the Constanța branch of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate against Radu Mazăre, the mayor of Constanța, for unlawfully refusing to grant 50% student discounts to public transport passes, the Association won its first major fight against the Constanța City Hall and every school student in the city obtained the right to buy public transport passes at a 50% discounted price. The Municipality of Constanța was the only large city in the country that at that moment was not granting discounted prices for students that used the public transport system. Two months later, in April, the Association succeeded in lobbying the major political parties and the Ministry of Education to support a bill sponsored by the Association - drafted by Alexandru Bajdechi, its first president - that put a student with full voting rights in every High-School Administrative Board in the country, a major legislative success for the Association. The next significant accomplishment of the Association followed in October 2015, when, after filing an administrative lawsuit against the City Council, the Council approved, for the first time in the post-communist history of the City, to grant over 9000 (merit-based and need-based) scholarships to school students in the city.
Currently, the Association advocates for full subsidies for the transport of school students that reside at more than 50 km from the school, free textbooks for senior students, and participates together with other educational stakeholders in the process of adopting the first School Students' Statute that will set forth the rights and duties of school students.
Objectives[edit]
The Constanța School Students Association works to:
- represent the school students as stakeholders in the educational system, and in issues concerning their lives;
- provide the school students with assistance and support and to co-operate for the development of school student representative structures;
- encourage and enable exchange of experience and good practice among other student unions;
- promote equal access to education and to strive for the end of all discrimination and injustice within the educational system;
- contribute to the development of a democratic educational system in Romania, that promotes active citizenship in all forms;
Structure[edit]
The AEC is structured according to the Romanian law regarding the non-governmental associations (OG26/2000), having a General Assembly (GA) as the highest decision-making body. The General Assembly meets annually or anytime needed, having the highest authority over the statutes, the main objectives and policies, as well as electing the Director Council, the Board of AEC, and the Ethics Committee. The Director Council is the main administrative body and is formed by three alumni members of the Association, the Board is the main executive body and consists of 5 members that must be school students.
Activities[edit]
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
References[edit]
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