International Day of Students in Brussels
On 17th November, the International Day of Students, the Fédération des Etudiants Francophones (FEF), together with other national and international student organisations organised an event to celebrate and raise awareness of the International Day of Students in Brussels, Belgium. OBESSU was there to represent European school students.
Despite the chilly weather, the event gathered students from all over Belgium to celebrate and support students and their rights. The theme of the day was: “education as a solution to the crisis”. As a symbolic action to visually show the need for investment in education, massive scales were built and brought to the event at Place Schuman, in front the European Commission in Brussels. One side of the scales represented education, and the other the crisis. The symbolic action was that students present at the event wrote their demands on paper and added them to the basket on the education side of the scales, and eventually the scales showed that education weighs more than the crisis.
OBESSU, amongst other organisations, took the stage to give a speech about the International Day of Students. In the speech OBESSU stated that in times like these, with the European financial crisis going on, it is more important than ever to make sure the future of our youth is guaranteed and the only way this can be done is by preserving education. Cutting in education and young people, also means cutting the future.
Before the International Day of Students, the Fédération des Etudiants Francophones (FEF), Vlaamse Vereniging van Studenten (VVS), OBESSU and the European Students’ Union (ESU) issued a joint press release about the day of action among other organisations.
Other organisation involved in the event were Jeunes FDF, Conseil de la Jeunesse, ECOLO, Comac , Le Comité des Élèves francophones (CEF), Mouvement des jeunes socialistes and OBESSU’s Member Organisation Vlaamse Scholierenkoepel (VSK).
