In light of the situation of education in many countries in Europe and taking into account the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, OBESSU member unions call for actions.
The resumption of classes at the beginning of the school year 2022 is catastrophic for European high school students. The protocols have not been adapted to the current magnitude of the health crisis, and students do not feel safe to resume classes under these conditions.
However, it is necessary to keep the educational institutions open because we have seen the damage, both psychological and academic, of dematerialized education.
After almost 2 years of this health crisis, our youth unions have established a common observation: our governments have failed to make the necessary choices to protect the youth! They prefer the choice of austerity policies towards health and education.
So today, we respond by mobilizing to make our legitimate demands heard loud and clear:
- Students and teachers must be provided with the necessary FFP2 masks;
- We need to massively hire teachers and staff and adapt our schools in order to reduce the number of students per class and the risk of contamination;
- It is necessary to equip the schools with air purifiers and CO2 sensors;
- And it is necessary to change the way exams are held, to adapt them to the education that students have received since the beginning of the crisis.
Across Europe, young people are mobilizing to change things, movements are taking place in Italy, Northern Ireland and France, and we call on all youth to join the mobilization for their future!
Signed by: Mouvement National Lycéen (MNL) – France, Aktion kritischer Schüler_innen (AKS) – Austria, The Secondary Students’ Union of Northern Ireland (SSUNI) - Northern Ireland, Unione Degli Studenti (UDS) and Reti degli Studenti Medi (RSM) - Italy, Landssammenslutningen af Handelsskoleelevers (LH) - Denmark, Confederación Estatal de Asociaciones de Estudiantes (CANAE) - Spain and Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) - Ireland.