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Presidents of School Parliaments, organized by Amalipe Center, visited the National Assembly and participated in a discussion with the Commission on Education and Science on April 21, Thursday. The visit was initiated by Ms. Galia Zacharieva, deputy chairman of the Commission on Education and Science, after she took part in the Parliamentary control organized at the School of Tolerance in Sliven.

The meeting in the National Assembly was attended by students from 5th to 12th grade who are presidents of student parliaments in schools in Shoumen, Veliko Tarnovo, Vratsa, Montana, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Silistra and Sofia. They are part of the "Every student will be a winner" Project. The visit began at 12.30 with a tour, during which students got acquainted with the building, its history and work mechanisms of the National Assembly. The youths followed how the MP's work in the plenary hall during the meeting when the changes in the electoral codex were discussed.

At 2 p.m. was held a meeting with the Commission on Education and Science in "Izgrev" hall. It was attended by prof. Borislav Velikov, Byunyamin Hassan, Milen Mihov, Georg Georgiev, Krasimir Bogdanov, Snezhana Dukova, prof. Stefan Zhelev, Irena Kotseva and Galya Zacharieva. Students shared the work of their parliaments and the way in which elections take place in school - often different from what we used to see in Bulgarian reality. MEPs congratulated them on various initiatives held, for their citizenship and clearly stated positions on acute social issues. Stefan Stanev (12th grade) school ombudsman in "Ivan Momchilov" secondary school in the town of Elena cause serious interest among MPs in connection with his duties and tasks. Haka Dzhemalov (11th grade) of scondary school "St. Paisiy Hilendarski", town of Varbitsa and Halid Emilov (10th grade) from VSTLG, Sofia presented the charitable campaigns organized last year in their schools. And Denitsa Kirilova, Chairman of the Parliament in primary school "Hristo Botev"  in the village of Banitsa, asked a series of questions related to the role of students and parents in the functioning of municipal councils.

And as real parliamentarians for whom democratic values are very important, not just lines in the text, during their visit to the National Assembly, the presidents of school parliaments defied their "colleagues" and asked them, "What is to be tolerant" and "What is to be a patriot" today in Bulgaria. The group of students from different ethnic groups made it clear to MPs' We say "We are equal."Will you say it too?". Their message was unambiguous - not because of a case of aggression, not because of a boy and not even because of one ethnic group, because in the world of hatred each of us can be "down to earth". "We, young people, declared ourselves against hatred. And today, with a picture and a message we show empathy,  and we also show that we want to live in a better world. We are different, large and small, high and low, white or dark, but we all have the same rights, the same chances. We are friends. We are equal". The message of the deputies, including those of the Patriotic Front, was also important. They stood behind the inscription "#WeAreEqual" - no matter if they believed in it or not, or if they would use it for PR. What was important was that politicians came up with a clear message "Equality is a basic value and it is not a subject to discussion!" It is very important the politicians to make the next step - to stop define the committed crime as a hooliganism and clearly state that this is a crime driven by hatred and racism! This may lead to change of the trend.