Macedonia: Young people want a future without corruption

Secondary school students awarded with certificates for the best essays on the topic “Corruption is not my future”

Fighting corruption is a challenge for all generations. For adults it is expressed in the need to build a society in which all will live well and have equal job opportunities and progress. “For the youth it is a challenge to understand and realize the problem and evil it is that threatens their future,” stated Professor Slagjana Taseva, President of Transparency-Zero Corruption. She added that this pilot activity, based on the essays from Macedonian high schools regarding the topic: “Corruption is not my future”, is the first and only of its kind.
"For the adults the future depends on whether young people will have the opportunity to learn what comprises corruption, and why we say that it is evil. These students from the high schools are recognizing the evil, and have very nice ideas about how they would like their future to be, without corruption," emphasized Taseva.

Creating awareness among children and adolescents is easier than among adults. “Instructing young people about the negative aspects of corruption is the best preventive measure that we have in the fight of the spread and growth of corruption,” said the Norwegian Ambassador in the Republic of Macedonia, His Excellency Kjetil Paulsen, and added that like raising awareness among young people, the laws that will regulate this matter are also important. For him, the developed awareness is crucial for recognizing and dealing with this evil.

So why should the education process be the leading lecturer among the youth? The media and educational systems are battling sources for information received by students. Therefore, in the education process there should be an academic introduction which will teach the young people that the future is not in corruption, because through the various media outlets, it is much easier for them to learn corrupt practices than to say "NO" to the corruption.

With respect to the family and tradition over time, the corruption will be deleted as a word,” said Snezana Mironovska, director of Josip Broz Tito High School.

"The family always gives the main direction to the child, so each should start from their own family so that the children will be educated as they should, in accordance with the laws, and corruption will be on the lowest level,“ stated Mironovska.

Certificates for the best essays on the topic: "Corruption is not my future" were given to the following students: Verche Karafiloska, Tamara Kotevska, Simona Lokvenec and Sara Robeli.