The assembly hall of the Javea Town Council of Javea hosted official ceremony on Sunday to constitute the Consell dels Xiquets (or Children's Council), a new citizen participation body composed of representatives from all primary and secondary schools in Javea, which will be responsible for channelling the demands, ideas and criticism from the children to the Town Council.
The Consell dels Xiquet is pioneer in the province of Alicante and is made up of 22 children representing their schools. Nicolas Hurtado and Nicolt Ochoa (colegio Arenal), Alejandro Junquera and Pablo Rossello (Col.legi Graüll), Israel Aguilar and Itziar Espasa (colegio María Inmaculada), Alejandro Llobell and Julia Miñana (Col.legi Port), Erik Ayora and Jose Antonio Sapena (Col.legi Trenc d'Alba), Valeria López and Laura Torné (colegio Vicente Tena) and Violeta López and Dayana Martines (Xàbia International College). The representatives of the secondary schools are Tomas Nahuel and Raul Gomez (Institut Antoni Llidó), Pablo Aparicio and Amparo Cabrera (María Inmaculada), Loreto Mata and Cristian Palao (Instituto Número 1) and Taylor Fraiser Brown and Maria Ayuso (Xàbia International College).
Javea Mayor Jose Chulvi presented them with an official pin, a certificate and a replica of the title of the Vila. Chulvi welcomed those who now "have a voice and vote" in the Town Hall and who will bring a different perspective to municipal life, " adding that," we need you to help us and council us to create a more comfortable, happier and more peaceful town that adapts to the needs of the people who live here."
The Councillor for Education, Empar Bolufer and the Councillor for Citizen Participation, Cesc Camprubi, were in charge of introducing the project to the parents, family and teachers who filled the room.
Camprubi began by stating that children are not citizens of tomorrow, but of "the present" (in Javea there are 700 citizens between ages 10 and 12) a population segment that we will now let "dream up the city they want to dream and put in practice some of their initiatives ". The councillor said the reason the Consell dels Xiquets was created was "to treat them as equals" and to "allow tomorrow's leaders to start practicing."
The councillor added that allowing children to express their ideas "benefits everyone, because a better city for children is a better city for everyone. Because everyone at some point is a pedestrian, suffers the lack of public transportation or public spaces to meet and pass the time." Camprubi stressed the need for "a new thinking to address problems. As we adults get older, we lose creativity, become restrained by social conventions, by what people say or by certain cultural patterns." The councillor also added that, "We adults have been responsible for the great disasters in history, while children are capable of doing great things and have great capacity for dealing with any problems and not wasting time with discussions that often times merely complicate the situation."
Camprubi made use of Einstein's reasoning to conclude that "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them," and asked, "so who better than children for coming up with different solutions to current problems?"
