If you want a lesson in democracy in this region, the best way is to take it to the streets – or, in the case of the fifth- and sixth-graders in the primary school, to the playground. These classes staged a protest: They want more soccer lessons in their extracurricular time.
Waving home-made signs, the kids made their way to the administration building, where they were met by the school prinicipal, Neama Abo Delu. Negotiations ensued with four representatives elected by the group.
Neama: “I’m I tough negotiator. There is no budget for soccer lessons for these classes, and I explained that to them. (They already had a coach picked out, and were sorry to learn the school could not pay his salary.) And since they play soccer at every opportunity, we wanted to give the kids other kinds of classes in their extracurricular slots – carpentry, young inventors and projects for the school. So I gave them a 90% no, and a promise to look into it.”
“I’m really proud of them,” she adds. “They were well-organized and they understood how to present their case to me. The four insisted on meeting in my office, and they conducted themselves as real representatives for their cause.”
