The student has been an active member of the Association of Luxembourg Student Unions (ACEL) for the past two years. Her demands to the country’s politicians are clear: Don’t forget students during the pandemic.
With over 40 student unions and over 10,000 students as members, ACEL is the biggest and most important representative of student interests in Luxembourg.
When the pandemic started, many students did not know what to do. One of ACEL’s main roles in situations like this is to inform and represent students. Covid-19 has led to problems that the student organisation never had to deal with before. Speaking to our colleagues from RTL Radio, the new ACEL President Polina Bashlay recounts a time when borders were suddenly closed, and students did not know if they were even allowed to return to the country where they were studying. Amidst universities closing and exams being postponed, ACEL tried its best to work alongside the Ministries of Health, Foreign Affairs, and Higher Education to find solutions, Bashlay explained.
These solutions include tests or vaccinations to allow students to cross borders. Since the large-scale testing programme has been abandoned, students can request vouchers for PCR tests through ACEL. In addition, the student organisation has reached an agreement with the Ministry of Education for additional grants in the case that someone has to study longer because their exams were postponed.
ACEL has mixed feelings regarding the new year. Despite the fact that new infections are on the rise, the student organisation is happy that it can offer “a personalised solution” to every student.
Addressing the country’s politicians, Bashlay stressed that it is important to ACEL that students are “not forgotten”. The situation remains difficult for many of them, as their everyday lives have been “extremely restricted” because of the pandemic. Whenever new measures are being discussed, Bashlay argues, politicians should ask themselves how they will affect students.
ACEL itself also has to deal with the consequences of these uncertain times. Events like the traditional ‘Studentebal’ can only be planned “up to a certain point”, and even then there is always the risk of having to cancel the event after all. The student organisation has to be “prepared for everything and ready to react in an instant”, according to Bashlay.
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