Student unions want spaces of silence and prayer in the fight against psychological complaints among students

There should be a place for prayer and silence in every educational institution, according to various student and pupil organizations. With a manifesto, they hope to persuade the House of Representatives to guarantee proper quiet rooms in schools and universities.

Members of the National Union of Students (LSVb) and other interest groups for students and pupils delivered the manifesto on Tuesday afternoon to the Standing Committee for Education, Culture and Science, a committee which includes several members of the House of Representatives.

“At a time when more than half of young adults in the Netherlands suffer from psychological disorders and when the pressure on student well-being is increasing, the importance of quiet rooms becomes more evident”, the Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg ( ISO) explains the need for quiet rooms in schools and universities.

more welcome

Devout students should be provided with a place to pray and, for example, for young people with autism, educational institutions should also provide rooms where they can relax, according to the signatories. The agencies believe this will make students feel more welcome and will also contribute to student well-being.

The manifesto has been signed by a long list of organizations that engage with secondary school pupils and students in secondary vocational education, higher vocational education and university. In addition to LSVb and ISO, these are the STIP student platform, the LAKS student union and JOB, the MBO student association. Additionally, MSA Netherlands, an interest group for Islamic students, and Elke(in), an umbrella organization that advocates for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses, have signed on.

“Losing Neutrality”

In April, a discussion took place on whether public education should allow prayers in quiet rooms. Public schools are not required to provide students with prayer rooms, but at the same time they cannot prohibit students from praying due to religious freedom.

From the search for NRC it turned out that many public school administrators are actively against prayer rooms because they are afraid of influencing or pressuring less religious students. According to Rafke Hagenaars, president of LAKS, public schools should not be afraid of “losing their neutrality”, she says in loyalty. “We only ask them to provide a space. The pupil or student then chooses to use it or not.

Too small

Quiet rooms are generally accepted in higher education, but here too there is still room for improvement, see the organizations behind the manifesto. “The spaces currently made available are not inclusive and accessible to all pupils and students to relax, pray or meditate.”

For example, the rest rooms in some institutions are too small and the needs of different groups of students may not match; an understimulated environment for students with autism, for example, is at odds with the needs of Muslim students who want to pray.

The manifesto was received by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education, Culture and Science. It is not yet clear how it will be approached and whether silent rooms in education will therefore be on the agenda.