School student voice: the seed for change

This new year, 2019, is opened by demonstrations all across Europe about various matters.

Protests against corruption and the authoritarian danger in Poland made some analysts talk about a “democratic spring” [1].Tension and unrest is also present in many other Eastern European and Balkan countries, in Albania we have seen students and youth active both against the new tuition rates and corruption in the public administration [2]. Meanwhile in France the huge movement of the Gilets Jaunes, which is full of contradictions and different political connotations but clearly against austerity in France has also made waves. Finally in Italy, different demonstrations against the Governmental anti-immigration policies, against the reform of the final exams in High schools, and challenging the unacceptable conditions of school buildings have been shown in the media.

This past week we have seen the movement against global warming that is also growing everywhere, proposing a real change of our economies to respect the environment and give to the current and next generations a livable planet.

Some say that School Students should just think about studying, emphasising a passive role for youth in our society and in our countries, and before expressing anything else we must reaffirm two articles of the European Convention on Human Rights [3], the core document defending Human Rights in Europe, written by the Council of Europe and now also part of the EU Law:

ARTICLE 10.1 Freedom of expression
Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.

ARTICLE 11.1 Freedom of assembly and association
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

We, School Students, are citizens and human beings, so it’s fundamental to remember that our right to express ourselves, to say what we think and what we want for our future and our present, is part of our rights and a constitutional part of our democracies.

OBESSU supports its Unions that are demonstrating, organising youth or promoting innovative ideas in a peaceful way. Unfortunately, this is not always treated seriously – school students are not heard and as a result of a lack of trust; institutions tend not to see them as equal partners, and they do not value their thoughts. Meanwhile, certain parts of the political spectrum completely disregard youth and student voice, ignoring not only the demands of student unions but the youth wings of their political parties.

For example, what happened some months ago in a school of Mantes-la-Jolie (France), where a peaceful student protest was repressed by the Police in riot gear, or when the president of our French Member Union, Union National Lycéenne (UNL), was shot with a rubber bullet, is still fresh in our minds, and we still deem this approach to be unacceptable against civilians. In a similar way,  Italian school students are silenced by the Minister for Internal Affairs of Italy, Matteo Salvini. The students were protesting his role and criticising his actions, particularly in regards to immigration. The Italian leader, rather than face criticism, instead blames the school students on social media, inappropriately taunting them and aligning them with violent behaviour [4].

The first article of OBESSU’s Declaration of School Student Rights declares that “School students must have the right to assemble, strike, demonstrate and express their opinion both inside and outside the school. They must be able to do so freely and without sanctions”.

We find this a fitting introduction to the Declaration, as it is impossible to think about a fair school without a fair society, and both without an active role of school students in decision making, at all levels.

Anytime reforms are done without considering our role as fundamental stakeholders to involve, the effects on the school system are often negative and negatively impact our learning journey. It’s almost the same if we speak about the labour market, where unorganized young workers are usually the most affected by mistakes in policy making, and the absence of youth from the decision-making process similarly hinders us from achieving sustainable growth and environment-friendly changes.

We have opinions that can be different from the ones of mainstream politics because we have a special point of view on the society. We are young but that does not mean that we are passive, neither does it mean that we cannot be innovative and refreshing. Anytime there’s a historical change in society, youth is a fundamental player in it because people of our age are normally less influenced by prejudice and more open to understanding new conditions and adapting to them.

What is happening in these months is for us, a sign of the great wealth of school student thinking, and of how we manage to act and to be strong when we have clear ideas, even when suffering from non-acceptance in the public debate.

There’s no real democracy if school students and youth are excluded from decision-making processes. Politics can’t be done just by politicians. We are school student unions, the leaders for change and our future, and we have the right to speak and to be heard.

We are the seed for change, nothing and nobody can stop us from growing.

Giuseppe Lipari, OBESSU Board Member

References:

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/30/poland-democratic-spring-fightback-citizens
[2] https://www.esu-online.org/?news=esu-stands-with-albanian-students
[3] https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf
[4] https://www.obessu.org/resources/news/obessu-reaction-in-solidarity-with-french-school-students/