“It is absolutely necessary to keep the universities open” in the face of the distress of the students of Avignon
“We absolutely have to keep universities open”, asks Thaouban Drider, student at the university of Avignon and member of the Unef union who was the guest of France Bleu Vaucluse this Wednesday morning while the Covid epidemic continues to progress in France. He fears that the closure of universities will further accentuate the distress of students, who are more and more numerous in Avignon to register for food parcels.
France Bleu Vaucluse: Have you also noticed that students are more and more affected by precariousness?
Thaouban Drider: Yes, of course, totally. And it’s been two years that it lasts. It even started before the epidemic crisis and this year, it still continues, even if on a resumption of activities such as commerce, or being able to go on vacation this summer. We, the students, did not budge. Our portfolio has not increased, the money is still not there. There are always students who are dying of hunger and anguish. The precariousness is still there.
Are odd jobs always hard to find for students?
Yes, totally and that’s a problem. We can see, for example, at the University of Avignon, where one in two students is a grant holder, and therefore precarious. We also have students who are not scholarship recipients, but who are extremely precarious and who must also find a job. Except that they can’t find a job to pay for their studies.
Does that mean more and more students going to ask for food packages?
Yes, and it’s absurd when at 18 or 20, you have to queue to get a food basket. In addition, sometimes we ask for social criteria to be able to recover it, it’s embarrassing. There are students who are really struggling. Me, at my office, I also had to stock up on hygienic food products. Like that, when I see a student who is really in trouble, I tell him to come.
Worried about the fifth wave of Covid?
Yes, she worries me. She worries me completely because there, we are always in uncertainty. Are the universities going to refer? Have the university restaurants closed like last year? What I’m afraid of is that we will also come back with a wave of distressed students, with many more students who will have difficulty finding accommodation, difficulty eating. And we will still end up with students who will end their lives, as was the case last year when the universities were closed.
What are you asking for? What should be done for students today to help them?
We are talking about a youth RSA, an autonomy allowance. This is what needs to be done for students, as in northern countries where students receive 800 euros per month to study. In fact, we are just asking to study in good conditions, to study without saying to each other “but I have my job at 3pm, I miss this class” or “what am I going to eat tonight?” The state does not give the money for the students.
Aid, for the moment, is not sufficient?
They are not at all. The highest purse is 500 and a few euros and extremely rare to have, while the poverty line today in France is at 1,000 euros. If there was an ideal emergency measure to put in place today, it would be the return of the euro meal for all students because, casually, this is what constitutes an economic burden for a student and in any case, an overhaul of the stock markets. This was what had been promised by the five-year term of Emmanuel Macron. But except that we still have not seen the reform of the stock exchanges.