The course entitled “Methods of Teaching Democracy and Human Rights” was completed on July 2004 with 35 training hours (3 hours each Thursday, 4 hours each Friday morning) and covered the following subjects:

• Human rights: children rights.
• Learning through case based approach.
• Cooperative learning.
• Civic rights: self expression
• Learning through problem-solving.
• Learning by doing
• Citizenship.
• Rule of Law
• Separation of authorities.
• Accountability and transparency.
• Elections and the parliamentary laws.
• Good governance

“Managing Educational Development” was held simultaneously with the teachers training course, completed 30 training hours (3 hours on each Thursday night and Friday morning), and covered the following subjects:

• The concept of management.
• Educational management: (comparison with other institutions’ managements).
• Development of the concept and role of the principal.
• The process of management in the institution.
• Frameworks of leadership.
• Tasks of the school’s principal.
• Models for educational management, resources of power.
• Structural and transformational principals and educational leadership.
• Collective leadership.
• The school culture: negative and positive characteristics of the school.
• Management of change in the school.
• Constructing the school mission and vision.

As a part of “Doing Democracy and Human Rights Education in Palestine” 10 workshops have been conducted at the 10 participant schools. The workshops entitled “Development of the School’s Staff” were carried out by the facilitator Najeh Abu Shamsiyeh.

These workshops aimed at enabling teachers to be introduced to the concept of education as a team work, to investigate their roles at schools, to be introduced to the school as a healthy, friendly and supportive environment to the students and teachers, to know that the school is a mosaic tableau in which they are parts of, to know that success is for all and it is achieved by everyone’s cooperation and finally to form a clear vision of their roles at the school. The workshops aimed also at establishing democratic rituals and structures, and expanding the voices of all school community members By these workshops, all the school’s staff got an idea about the project implemented at their school, and so they could be involved and can help the participant teacher in implementing the project to all the students. Also, the workshops supported the participant principals as they joined the school community removing most of the barriers among the principal and his/her school staff.

By the beginning of the scholastic year, teachers started to implement the students’ learning activities prepared by them previously at the teachers’ course, by a weekly class specified for the project. Evaluation reports by the teachers were sent weekly to Almawrid, describing the students’ acceptance of the activities, their reactions and the results achieved at the end of each class.

Within these activities, students could realize their rights, responsibilities and finally could conclude rules and laws they need at the school. Students became more aware of the community they live in, became more responsible that they allow themselves to interfere and participate in many events taking place in their schools.

These students could seriously and positively step towards achieving their rights and doing their responsibilities. For instance, students observe everything happening at the school or their local community, discuss and analyze the case or the situation, then take a positive step to solve any problem such as writing letters to the principal, to the municipality or even to police headquarters, or they can call for meetings with the students, teachers or the principal to discuss the problem, demand their rights and promise to do all their responsibilities. While implementing the activities, we could see how these students developed, changed and became more aware and responsible of their life.

During this period, the UNRWA employees strike started, in which schools were closed for more than forty days. What happened then is that the participant teachers from these UNRWA schools continued to implement the activities with their students in places they agreed on. Students of Al-Jalazon girls’ school with their teacher Hanan Arqoub had their classes at Al-Jalazon Youth Club, while students of Birzeit girls school with their teacher Sana’ Biary took their classes at Birzeit Youth Club, and at last the students of Deir Ammar boys school with their teacher Fares Naser choose to take their classes at Almawrid.

Deir Ammar students, feeling they are responsible, and at the same time understanding their own rights, especially their right to education, wrote a letter directed to the administration of the UNRWA demanding their rights and refusing to be the victims of haggling. Then they participated in the demonstration against the UNRWA to read their letter in front of the public.

On December, 2004 students had their parliamentary laws finished; their rights, responsibilities, rules regarding their daily life at schools and rules concerning the parliament and the elections.

During December, two schools made their elections of the students’ parliaments where students felt so excited by this activity, and practiced real citizenship.

The first school was Toura Boys School (Jenin), which held its parliament elections on December 18, 2004. 96% of the students participated in the polling process where eleven students among 34 candidates won the elections and became members of the students’ parliament at their school.

The other school was Anin girls school (Jenin), which held its election on December 23, 2004. Seven candidates among 19 won the elections and became the members of the student’s parliament, they are:

• Elections of the remaining eight schools were conducted on January and February 2005.