"Even if It's just a sandwich": Teenagers on school rights
Ask a policymaker what human rights in education means and you will get frameworks, conventions, action plans. Ask a teenager, and you get something far more useful: the truth about how those rights feel from inside a classroom. As part of our FutureEd project — co-creating rights-centred education for a sustainable future with our partners ALLI asbl and EUDEC, the European Democratic Education Community — we recently sat down with a small group of Belgian youth for a focus group on human rights, democracy and digital rights at school. Their words, shared here anonymously, were sharper than any textbook.
Rights begin with a sandwich
When we asked what human rights are, the answers started big — "basic necessities to live a proper life," as one participant put it — and landed somewhere surprisingly concrete: lunch. The group described how support for less fortunate classmates often depends not on the school, but on other students quietly sharing their food. One participant told us:
"A lot of schools don't have support for the less fortunate, and it's more like other students who give some of their food... I think schools should help with that a little bit, even if it's just like a sandwich."
It is a humbling reminder that the right to food is not an abstraction — sometimes it is the difference between a child who can concentrate in class and one who cannot.
The "half-targeted" rule: Religion and the limits of neutrality
The conversation turned to freedom of religion, and the group's analysis was strikingly precise. One participant described how neutral-sounding dress codes can quietly discriminate:
"You can make a rule that is like 'I ban hats,' but a hijab counts as a hat, making it slightly targeted... Targeting without actually saying you're not allowed to wear a hijab."
Others contrasted this with schools where students could opt out of prayer or wear the symbols of any faith freely. Their conclusion was that forced neutrality can end up forcing young people to hide part of who they are — the opposite of what an inclusive school should do.
Democracy at school: Real voice or just for show?
Do student councils actually give students power? The group was sceptical. Councils were described as "more just for show," and even when classes did vote, teachers could simply veto outcomes they found unreasonable. But the students had also experienced schools where participation was real — where pupils could genuinely change schedules or co-run school trips — and the difference in how they talked about those places was unmistakable. One participant summed up what democracy means to them better than most textbooks could:
"Voting is just a medium. It's just about equal chances to bring something of your opinion in... It's giving voices to the voiceless."
Digital rights = privacy (and they know they're being watched)
Our final question was about digital rights. The answer was almost unanimous: privacy. The group knew exactly how monitored they are — school platforms that can access their messages, screens that can be mirrored to the front of the class — and they questioned where the line should be. They also raised data protection unprompted: the idea that schools hold addresses and emails that should never be shared without consent. And then came the exchange that stayed with us longest. When we asked whether they ever feel oppressed at school, one participant answered, "Well, if you behave, no." Another shot back:
"If you're only not being oppressed when you behave, you are being oppressed."
Teenagers, it turns out, can articulate the tension between safety and surveillance better than most adults.
What happens next: Three guides, built on their words
This focus group is not a nice-to-have — it is the raw material of FutureEd. Together with ALLI asbl and EUDEC, we are turning insights like these into three practical guides for schools, educators, parents and partner organisations: a legal and ethical framework on rights-centred education, a rights-centred education guide with best practices from democratic education, and a digital rights awareness guide built around our storybook "Zara & the Glowing Realm." Throughout August, we will present one guide per week on this blog — each one shaped by what young people actually told us, not what we assumed they'd say.
Does your school or organisation want to put youth voices at the centre of education? We would love to work with you — on rights-centred education, workshops, training or a joint EU proposal. Write to us at liliana.carrillo@collectiveup.be and let's talk.
FutureEd is an Erasmus+ (KA210) project co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission.
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