The implementation of the school participatory budget is a great opportunity for South Moravian secondary schools that want to involve students themselves. The pilot project called "Improve Your School" is designed to develop financial literacy, critical thinking, presentation skills, and civic engagement among high school students. Lukáš Dubec, Deputy Governor of the South Moravian Region, came up with the idea for such a project.
Participatory budgeting gives students and staff the opportunity to express their views and preferences on how the school should develop.
The students work together to think about how to improve the school environment or teaching, and what is important and necessary for them. They learn to work together, listen to each other's opinions, find joint solutions and consensus. They create specific projects up to the maximum allocation of the school's participatory budget, which they submit to the school management for consideration and then present to other students. They then use online voting to select a winner, which will be implemented later in the school year.
The South Moravian Region has prepared a subsidy package for the first six pilot secondary schools. It contains an amount that students at each school can spend. And they themselves think of what to spend it on. The projects that get the most support from the students at the school will win and will implement.
High school students will be actively involved in the event. They will make decisions on how to handle the financial budget, thus developing their soft skills.
Six South Moravian secondary schools are currently undergoing pilot testing.
| Project name | Improve your school |
| Grant provider | Jihomoravský kraj |
| Project coordinator | JINAG |
| Implementation period | 10-2023/06-2024 |
| September 2023 |
Press Release: Launch of the "Improve Your School" Project https://jinag.eu/en/a-project-to-promote-civic-engagement-and-financial-literacy-it-is-possible |
| November 2023 |
The "Improve Your School" Project Has a Logo — Announcement of a creative contest among students at pilot schools to design the project's official logo. The winner was student Barbora Kmetíková https://jinag.eu/en/the-improve-your-school-project-has-a-logo |
| January 2024 |
"Rising Star" Award for Healthy Cities, Towns, and Regions 2024 |
| June 2024 |
Completion of the Pilot Phase of the Project |
| September 2024 |
A Strong Start to the First Year — Expansion of the Project and Involvement of a Total of 56 High Schools in the South Moravian Region in the Implementation Phase of School Participatory Budgets |
| January 2025 |
Award in the Smart Cities Competition—the project won the prestigious first place in the national competition in the Education and Youth category for its innovative approach to fostering civic engagement https://jinag.eu/en/the-improve-your-school-project-won-the-smart-cities-competition |
| April 2025 |
Press Conference Marking the Launch of the Full-Scale "Improve Your School" Program for All Secondary Schools in South Moravia |
| 23th April 2024 – 7th May 2025 |
Launch of the project’s second year—registration is now open for the new year. The target group has been expanded to include elementary schools, children’s homes, and other educational institutions operated by the South Moravian Region https://jinag.eu/en/we-are-launching-the-2nd-year-of-the-improve-your-school-project |
| May 2026 |
Conference: "School as a Laboratory of Democracy" https://jinag.eu/en/press-release-school-as-a-laboratory-for-democracy |
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The "Improve Your School" Project—An Opportunity for Secondary Schools in South Moravia |
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Official project website: https://vylepsisiskolu.cz/
This event is part of the activities of the “Healthy Region” project and Local Agenda 21.
