PRESS RELEASE: European School Students Mark International Students’ Day
BRUSSELS – On 17th November 2014, school student organisations and higher education student organisations from all over the world will once again mark International Students’ Day.
Thousands of students from around the world will take different kinds of action, responding to a call launched by the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU) and the European Students’ Union (ESU). In this call, we demand an education system free of costs and fees, free of discrimination and free of fear. Many organisations from all over the world who sympathise with the cause have already signed the call. A list of organisations can be found here.
To name a few examples of activities related to this campaign, in Italy up to 100,000 students already took to the streets to demonstrate against Renzi’s reforms; in Egypt students will demonstrate against the militarisation of Egyptian universities and call for safe educational environments; in Mexico a large number of activists are protesting against the disappearance of 43 students; and in Norway there is a national demonstration against the introduction of tuition fees for non-EU students.
The date of International Students’ Day was chosen by the 2004 World Social Forum and it commemorates the storming of Charles University in Prague in 1939 and the brutal repression of student activists that followed. Information about the history of the International Students’ Day can be found at: www.obessu.org/17now.
OBESSU and ESU call on all educational stakeholders in the world to join the campaign and keep fighting for better and more inclusive education systems. Follow the campaign at #17Now and #freeeducation.
For more information please contact Luke Shore, OBESSU Board Member luke@obessu.org
Download the press release as a PDF here.
