In 2020, 2021 and 2022, close to 500 students from middle-schools and high-schools’ members of the UNESCO Associated School Network in France will exchange with press cartoonists form the NGO Cartooning for Peace.
The objective of this initiative, which is led by the French National Commission for UNESCO and thanks to the sponsorship of the BIC Corporate Foundation, is to favor a culture of discussion and debate and to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of speech among school students. The cartoonists will lead workshops following the pedagogic method developed by the NGO Cartooning for Peace, which helps students to decode press cartoons and to express their opinion with an argumentative basis. By developing their critical thinking, students enlarge their perception of societal challenges in France and the world. These workshops will also invite students launch themselves in the adventure of press cartoons and start drawing their own.
This project, made possible by the sponsorship of the BIC Corporate Foundation, also includes the pedagogic material developed by the NGO Cartooning for Peace, which consists of an exposition and a pedagogic book for teachers. The exposition addresses fundamental themes of society, such as: freedom of speech, censorship, women and children’s rights, discrimination, and the future of our planet. A section is also dedicated to the Addis-Abeba Declaration, in which press cartoons are recognized as a fundamental right.
The BIC Corporate Foundation decided to support this project as it promotes the development of critical thinking and drawing, two essential elements to its approach of education.
