Malmö students launch a council to represent their interests

The body represents a new approach to student democracy and representation on a local level

This school year, a new institutional body has started operating in the city of Malmö – a central student council, which will directly represent the interests of the city’s pupils to the local government. The council in question consists of 14 students in eighth and ninth grades, gathered from different schools in the city.

Active youth citizenship

The idea of the central student council is to act as a link between the separate school councils and the city administration. The reps will be able to raise their own initiatives that the elected representatives will then decide on.

The central student council should also function as a kind of referral body for the elementary school administration, to get the young people's opinions on various projects and thus show that they can collectively influence their daily lives.

“Find people who think the same as you. And make reasonable suggestions. You may not be able to have ice cream every day, but you may be able to have cucumbers on the salad table instead of carrots. And then when you go to the principal, don't be angry. Clearly show what you want to change and why it is important to you,” says Julia Magnusson.

The student councillors emphasize the importance of telling their schoolmates that they have a voice, that they can be involved and that they can have influence, all the way up to the highest political level.

“Few students know that they can actually do something. It can be difficult to get people involved. Sometimes classes don't even have representatives to the student council,” says Tor Lonnert, who goes to Johannesskolan.

The central student council is at the beginning of its process, but everyone is eager to get started discussing issues they think are important. Among other things, they will start sending out a newsletter to all student councils in Malmö.

The membership of the council will organically refresh every year when the ninth-graders will be replaced by the eighth-graders, who in turn will be replaced by a new batch of newcomer activists.