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MEPs call for ‘immediate help’ for students affected by Covid-19

   

Many students ‘have lost faith in their education’, says European Parliament’s largest political group

The largest political group in the European Parliament, the centre-right European People’s Party Group, has called on the European Commission and EU member state governments to provide “immediate” help for students affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Hundreds of thousands of students, whose part-time job contracts have been terminated and who do not have enough means to accommodate basic life needs, have lost faith in their education,” the group said on 8 February.

MEP Sabine Verheyen, chair of the Parliament’s culture and education committee and a member of the group, said governments “must act now and come up with tailored schemes for the retention and creation of jobs for students and young people”. 

She called on the Commission to “swiftly mobilise all funding available with direct focus on youth”, including the EU’s Erasmus+ mobility scheme.

Verheyen noted the psychological impact of financial difficulties alongside lockdowns for young people and urged governments to fund support services.

“Only widely available tailored mental health services and psychosocial support within training and education institutions can avoid a long-term impact on the psychological health of our young generation,” she said.