Students take a break in a journalism camp

FERGHANA, Uzbekistan – Summer is the favourite season for  students because of their school holidays. Fourteen students from schools in Ferghana,  Uzbekistan, spent their summer break in an unusual camp about journalism. Organised by the children's media center, Yangi Avlod (Young Generation), with the support of UNICEF, the summer camp was held in Kuvasai, Ferghana. Even the title of the camp was unusual: "Children about Children in the Media."

The young participants were trained by media professionals from Tashkent, including Sunatulla Kuziev, director of Yangi Avlod; Ulugbek Giyosov, representative of the TV channel Yoshlar, and Nargiz Kosimova, a teacher at Tashkent State University. They explored ways to conduct interviews, write reports, record videos and edit them.

“The conditions in the camp were not very good. But we came here to study journalism and we achieved good results. This camp made me think about my future. I would like to try to become a journalist," said Sergey Ovcharenko, a student from Ferghana State University.

During the five-day camp, participants learned how to work effectively in  teams. In the evenings, they had free time to play football or dance at the disco. The students went home with 10 movies and reports on youth-related issues like ecological problems, cigarettes and alcohol.

“I was very proud of my first video about the ecological problems of our region, and our attitude toward situations when we see how people around us harm the green grass, flowers and trees. It will make children and adults think about us and our only home – Earth," said Lola Yuldosheva.

Kuziev told the participants: “Your one-minute videos, reports and articles will be published in many Uzbekistan newspapers and magazines.” All the student videos were presented on the national Uzbek youth TV channel, Yoshlar, in September last year.