Bruce MP Alan Griffin with Dandenong Primary School principal David Crozier and members of the school parliament.POLITICS and a room full of children could easily be mistaken for a real session of Australian Parliament.
But at Dandenong Primary School on Friday no-one was taking the mock parliament more seriously than students and Bruce MP Alan Griffin, who was visiting to mentor the budding young pollies.
Mr Griffin, the Veterans’ Affairs Minister, visited Dandenong Primary School’s fortnightly school parliament.
He was invited by the school captains to watch students make their reports, and to answer questions about the Commonwealth Parliament.
“I am impressed by Dandenong Primary School’s innovative and practical way of teaching students about aspects of our system of government,” Mr Griffin said.
Students are organised into a number of committees with various responsibility for various matters, such as the office committee, which is responsible for the bells, raising and lowering the flags, lunch orders and collecting the rolls; the library committee; the arts committee; and the grounds committee.
Each committee has a minister who reports to the fortnightly school parliament, which is overseen by a prime minister and a speaker.
“The school parliament relates the traditional school SRC system to our parliamentary system and also encourages the students to take responsibility and pride in the running of their school,” Mr Griffin said.
“I’m sure with such innovative teaching methods, Dandenong Primary School is producing our leaders of the future.”
