Two years after its establishment, the Committee at Scuola Umbria – APS, in the will of its members, represented by the Steering Committee composed of Francesca Leone (president), Martina Leonardi (vice-president) and Paolo Pagliacci (legal and secretary), has started a new journey. The challenges that have affected us in the pandemic are mostly archived: only self-surveillance indications remain which, we hope, will tend to disappear and finally, the Sars-Cov-19 infection will be treated like other viral infections.
This reflection has led the Committee to think about its future starting from the mission that the founding members have given themselves. We believe that the Committee’s action cannot be stopped at the pandemic phase, as the educating community, which we set out to support, finds itself even more crumbling after the pandemic. The pre-pandemic school was already leaking from all sides and the real or presumed interest of the community towards the youngest and minors is increasingly scarce.
This is confirmed by the numerous proclamations that arrive from all political sides on the subject: we are talking about school, about profound themes that concern the new generations in an often too superficial way: by now we are well aware of the modus operandi of today’s communication, putting together slogans of two fans who wage war without ever looking at the complex. Looking at the situation of young people with complexity, it appears to be torn apart by loneliness, a loneliness that is amplified by the massive use of smartphones and activities to be carried out online: young people do everything online, buy food, clothes and various objects, play and meet.
But this loneliness can be defeated through the proposal of stimulating activities, in fact children and young people who have the possibility (financial above all) to attend music, language or sports courses are less likely to spend time in front of the smartphone closed in the their bedroom. Where should this educational proposal come from if not from the school? Our slogan has always been, referring to the Constitutional Charter, that of the “School Open to All”, an open, inclusive school is a school that never closes its doors but which, depending on the time of day, reinvents itself in order to welcome and support.
When we talk about our dream of a school in which our children can have a complete experience and activities that are not only didactic, the first objection that comes to us is that linked to school buildings which often, not only do not have refectories but not even gyms… can this stop us? Certainly not, as parents but above all as citizens we must remember that the money spent by politicians is our money and we must be the ones to direct state investments. For the first time in the history of our country, parents and families must become aware of their contractual role in politics, avoiding the exploitation of sides that claim the right to know their needs and/or problems.
Starting from this scenario, the Committee aims to become an institutional and social actor who can support parenting, propose ideas, and become a political subject that allows the rebirth of a new school and an educating community of all. The School that the Members of the Committee imagine called “The School we would like” will be the fulcrum of our work from now to the future. “The school we would like” is a school that puts the person and their well-being at the center before results and merit, a school that educates, a school that trains citizens and – as we have said several times in recent years – does not subjects. Creating such a school means abandoning the mere pursuit of perfection and standard, the idea of performance and competition.
It means adopting methodologies that deal not only with educational and cognitive development but also with emotional development, starting to truly enhance the emotional intelligence of each of us. All these issues are enclosed in our silence of the past days and months, we are in a creative phase: we look with curiosity at the lively debate that is developing around innovative school proposals, we do not shy away from novelty but rather we aim to navigate in this time of changes by placing the needs of children at the centre.
For anyone who wants to be part of our journey, write to committeeascuolaumbria@gmail.com or consult our Facebook page @comitatoascuolaumbria
Martina Leonardi
vice-president and spokesman of the Committee at Scuola Umbria – APS