On 28.06.2022, MYLA organized the final event of the project – a round table with stakeholders relevant to personal data protection and the high schools included in the project. The event was attended by representatives from three high schools (the fourth high school has opted out of the project), representatives from the Personal data protection agency, a representative from the NGO Megjashi – Skopje and the experts that had conducted the analysis, sessions and the handbook for high school students.
The round table was imagined as an all-around event that included:
- Promotion of the two documents drafted during the project – the Analysis on privacy and protection of personal data of young people in the digital era – National legal framework and experience, and the Handbook for high school students – Violation of privacy and online bullying;
- Short overview of the sessions conducted with the high school students from the high schools included in the project, with insights gained by the experts that conducted the sessions, and
- Overview of the whole process in the schools after the sessions – the interest shown by the students for the subject after the sessions, their involvement in sharing ideas for reporting personal data violations and/or online bullying as well as their level of trust in the schools and state institutions.
The open discussion that followed opened many interesting positions for deepened work with high school students but also high school staff in order to strengthen the recognition of such violations and the damages that they may cause, to build a link of trust between the students and the school and to create an appropriate punitive mechanism that may help divert students from violating privacy or conducting bullying.
Three out of four high schools stated that they are interested in continuing to a second phase of the project – a phase in which the high school staff would receive additional help in creating a sensitized environment for the students, and the students will be trained to conduct the sessions before students from other schools. This would help build the knowledge and skills database amongst the teachers, which would lead to strengthened trust and confidence of students to report any violation, feel safe and protected.