Publishers of Francophone dailies in Belgium have relaunched the 'Ouvrir mon quotidien' programme, aimed at encouraging primary, secondary, and higher education students in the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles to engage with news.
The programme just relaunched by newspapers grouped under the Lapresse.be organisation, offers both paper and digital versions of French-language dailies.
The original initiative, 'Ouvrir mon quotidien papier,' has been running for 20 years and provides students in years 5 and 6 of primary school, as well as those in secondary and tertiary education with access to the paper versions of the newspapers.
Schools can register via Lapresse.be to receive two newspapers per week, for primary pupils, or up to six daily newspapers for secondary and higher education students during four different periods of the academic year.
Every delivery includes a 'journal de bord' or logbook – a pedagogical tool designed to help students better understand the world of press and journalism.
Launched last year, 'Ouvrir mon quotidien numérique' targets secondary and higher education students exclusively. Through this initiative, classes are granted one-month access to the websites of participating newspapers, including 'L’Avenir,' 'La DH,' 'La Libre,' 'Le Soir,' 'L’Écho,' and 'Sudinfo.'
To ensure effective learning, students are provided with educational materials to navigate and critically analyse the news.
Last year, over 13,000 students from 215 schools benefited from the digital subscription programme.
The initiative aims to "sharpen students’ critical thinking,” encourage them to “reflect on societal issues,” and “foster debate through information sources beyond social media.”
It is supported by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles and the Conseil Supérieur de l’Éducation aux Médias (CSEM - Higher Council for media Education).
