Belgian ‘Mobile School’ project wins European Citizen's Prize
This year, one of the European Citizen's Prizes went to Mobile School, a Belgian organisation working with street children. The Citizen's Prize is awarded every year to organisations and people for their contribution to European cooperation and the promotion of common values.
Since 1996, Mobile School has been building mobile schools designed for educating street children. Through educational games, children who have no or limited access to education receive schooling in a fun and accessible way. Their motto is: if a child cannot come to school, we will bring the school to the child.
The organisation also provides training for local street educators. The idea is to prepare them in an adequate and professional manner for dealing with these street children. At the present time, 42 mobile school carts drive around in 24 different countries, and the educational blackboards and panels are written in 15 different languages.
50 people and organisations have already received a Citizen's Prize from the European Parliament for their daily contributions to European values. The members of the jury, under the leadership of European Parliament Vice-President Sylvie Guillaume, could choose from among 79 projects which were submitted by national juries. Mobile School was represented for our country by MEP Ivo Belet (EPP).