The project
Among the many other projects aimed to intercultural education that have been developed in Europe in the last 20 years, “School on Borders” stands out for the intuition it was inspired by: the border is to be considered as an “open door” between ethnic groups and cultures, not as a barrier. Many of the partner organizations work in those areas where there are noteworthy linguistic minorities, such as the state institute of education (with Slovenian as teaching language) “P. Trubar – S. Gregorcic” in Gorizia, but also schools and universities in Oradea in northwestern Romania, which is located a stone throw away from the Hungarian border, in a county inhabited by a consistent Magyar minority and other smaller Slovakian and German minorities; the school and municipality of Komotini in Thrace that is situated in a Greek region neighboring with Turkey whose inhabitants are 35\40 % Muslims; and the school of economics of Zielona Gora situated in a territory now belonging to Poland, but used to be German until 1945. Not to mention the Hazelwood Integrated College of Belfast where every day Protestant and Catholic kids try to build a common future for themselves and their island. As a matter of fact the creators of SoB thought not only about those borders that divide national states, but also those inner boundaries that often separate different ethnic, social and religious groups living the same town or region. Therefore the target of the project is not only those minorities that have been living in a certain marginal land for decades or centuries, but also those immigrants that have come to live in Europe, often facing many difficulties.