Successful youth debate in Voorne aan Zee
Today, three debate teams consisting of young people (upper classes 4, 5, and 6) from Maerlant College, Penta College Jacob van Liesveldt, and Helinium debated each other and the 13 political parties participating in the municipal elections.
This gave the students the opportunity to actively participate in a political debate, express their opinions, and discuss issues that are relevant to young people and the local community.
Reason
Over the past year, the council has already given guest lessons at these schools (council in the classroom) and an initial debate has taken place in the council chamber. This left everyone wanting more. Debate teams from these schools came up with their own propositions that they wanted to discuss with each other and with the 13 parties.
Mayor Scheepers opened the youth debate and emphasized the importance of giving young people a voice.
"It is inspiring to see how engaged and critical our young people are. By letting them debate for themselves, we make local democracy tangible. In this way, we lay an important foundation for their future as active citizens," said Mayor Scheepers.
Afterwards, the participants received a certificate from the director of Maerlant, Mr. Scheffers, in recognition of their active participation in this special activity. Maerlant College, which hosted the event this afternoon, is proud of this successful collaboration with the municipality and looks forward to further initiatives to continue to engage students in politics and democracy.
"These debates give our students the opportunity to put theory into practice. They learn not only to argue, but also to listen and discuss respectfully. That makes the debate lively and meaningful," said Dennis van de Ruit, social studies teacher at Maerlant, and Richard de Zoete (on behalf of the municipality's council communication working group), who was involved in organizing this debate.