“It Is Like a Small-Scale Model of What Happens in Reality”:

Policies and Experiences in the Formation of Secondary School Student Councils in Jujuy

Abstract

Among the diverse practices that students develop throughout their schooling experiences, the formation of Student Councils (SCs) has gained particular relevance in a context marked by the rise of right-wing movements and a “disenchantment with actually existing democracy”(Grimson, 2024, p. 16), not only in Argentina but also in other countries across the region and the world. More than a decade after the enactment of National Law No. 26,877 (2013), which regulates the creation and functioning of Student Councils, Provincial Law No. 6,419 on the creation and organization of Student Councils in the province of Jujuy was passed in late 2024. Within this framework, we seek to present advances concerning two analytical dimensions: (A) the processes of implementation/adaptation of educational policies aimed at formally recognizing and therefore regulating the existence and functioning of Student Councils, particularly in the province of Jujuy; and (B) the meanings attributed to Student Councils and participation within these spaces by different actors, especially the students attending the secondary school where the first Student Council election under the new provincial law was held. This study is part of a broader line of research on the experiences and schooling processes of young people in contexts of poverty and social inequality, which we have been developing through both individual and collective research projects. The study adopts a relational socio-anthropological approach, drawing on contributions from the Latin American tradition of ethnographic research on educational issues.