International Students’ Day: History and Significance of the day

International Students’ Day is a global observance of the student community, held every year on 17 November.

Students are the building blocks of any country. They are the future generations whose information denotes the country’s development. It is a global celebration Day for the student’s community that praises multiculturalism, mutual help, and diversity among the students internationally.

International Students Day initially recognizes the attack of Nazi German in Czech Universities wherein over 1,200 students were shipped off the concentration camps, and numerous others were killed. The day is a symbol of the battle of students all around the world.

Students across the world explicitly in the best student destination nations, for example, the United States may have seen International Education Week, which is an essential part of observing International Students Day. The day is celebrated to guarantee education is accessible and open to all students.

Every year, students from all aspects of the world observe November 17 as International Students Day and a huge number of students show a lot of enthusiasm to partake in organized events.

International Students’ Day: 1939 Tragic Story

On November 17, 1939, the Nazi soldiers executed nine student leaders and sent more than 1200 students to concentration camps. The Nazi soldiers had even shut all the Czech colleges and universities. The fortitude showed by the students during this occurrence was extraordinary. To honor their legacy, since 1941, students from all parts of the world began observing November 17 as International Students Day.

International Students’ Day: History

The date celebrates the anniversary of the 1939 Nazi storming of the University of Prague after exhibits against the killing of Jan Opletal and worker Václav Sedláèek as well as against the occupation of Czechoslovakia, and the execution of nine student leaders, more than 1,200 students shipped off concentration camps, and the closure of every Czech college and universities.

During late 1939 the Nazi experts in Czechoslovakia (around then it called the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia) suppressed an exhibit in Prague held by students of the Medical Faculty of Charles University. The exhibition was held on the 28th of October to celebrate the anniversary of the independence of the Czechoslovak Republic.

The first celebration was held in 1941 in London by the International Students’ Council. For years, various student groups have been campaigning to make the day an official UN recognition, however, they have not succeeded at this point.

Initially, International Students’ Day was set up to honor the killing of Czech students during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. On October 28, 1939, students held a series of anti-Nazi demonstrations in Prague. Jan Opletal, a student of the Charles Universally, was lethally injured by Nazi forces and died on November 11.

Opletal’s funeral on November 15 transformed into a mass anti-Nazi demonstration. Subsequently, the Nazi specialists shut every Czech college and universities. On November 17, the Nazis raided higher education institutions, executing nine students and professors and sending more than 1,200 students to concentration camps.

In 1941, November 17 was set apart as International Students’ Day for the first time. It began as a global observance of student political activism, however various universities and student associations currently mark it as a non-political celebration of the diversity and multiculturalism of international students.

International Students Day will help the responsibilities to remember all the students in the world to speak more loudly concerning education and student unified issues. This special day is an opportunity for each student to draw attention to society about student activism.

Be that as it may, the day holds essentialness in different nations, too. With its fairly dismal history, 17 November is today generally a day for remembrance and a vehicle for student activism. In this unique circumstance, the most unmistakable association is the Organizing Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU). Every year, they raise awareness for students’ rights and needs through different activities, consistently intending to improve higher education for students and society on a more extensive scale.