Students involved in Europe!
OBESSU Member Organisations have chosen to create a new Working Group on the next European Parliament elections.
The European Parliament Elections Platform “School Students’ Europe 2019″ (EPEP) working group is currently working on a campaign to raise awareness of the voting students from all over Europe. The campaign will seek to help students understand the decision-making mechanisms in Europe on education, distinguishing the different tasks of the European institutions in this area.
In addition, through carrying out studies on recent educational policies and proposals at European level, such as “Rethinking Education” and “Europe 2020”, the Working Group wants to link this with an analysis of European policies and proposals put forward by individual political groups in the run-up to elections.
OBESSU has chosen to develop this campaign not only to give greater awareness to students about Europe, but also to increase the decision making power of student organisations in the choices regarding education. In fact, in the elections we seldom talk about education, and it is considered an issue of lesser importance. OBESSU, however, intends to make the parliamentary groups raise this issue, in the face of students’ analysis, proposals and demands across Europe.
In order to do so, following the example of many Member Organisations of OBESSU, the Working Group will write a policy document on the issues most keenly felt by the student organisations, chosen by a survey. The document will be used to exert political pressure and to lobby on education: democracy, participation, right to education, mobility, lifelong learning.
OBESSU also intends to collect the various experiences of student organisations of this type, to push lobbying at the national level.
The EPEP Working Group is working, in addition to the policy document, on a material pack for Member Organisations of OBESSU across Europe, with attractive graphics and specific documents on: the program of the parties in the fields of youth and education, a Guide to European institutions, a Guide to lobbying and best practices, the vocabulary of young people, “How to debate?”, infographics with data, and an analysis of the EU policy process.
The goal of the campaign is to make students more involved in the European dimension of education, more aware of the choices made in EP and to obtain guarantees from political parties.
Written by Martina Carpani, Member of the EPEP Working Group
