In the Faroe Islands, in the early stages of the pandemic in spring 2020, a school decided to cancel a trip to Paris for 300 students. The decision was made the night before the trip was supposed to take place following a meeting at which the student council was not consulted.
The consequences were dramatic as the students had paid for the trip themselves. The cost of the trip was DKK 7500 (approximately EUR 1000) per person. The media immediately contacted the student council and the council stated that it understood the decision but said “it was unfortunate that the student council was not included in the decision.” The student council also noted that many students bought tickets to Denmark, to party, anyway.
“Since we were not consulted, people rebelled against the decision.” (Danjál Hátún Augustinussen, Faroe Islands)
The student council was soon contacted by the Minister of Culture, who said that he would try to help them, and the students ended up being refunded by the state for their expenses.
The student council and school management agreed that the decision-making process had not worked well. So they discussed how they could avoid repeating the same mistake. The following year, they had a meeting at a much earlier stage and, as it looked like the trip might have to be cancelled again, they made a joint decision to postpone it.
“We were not under as much time pressure. When our trip was cancelled, things changed very rapidly. But it made it much easier to defend the decision when we had been part of making it.” (Danjál Hátún Augustinussen, Faroe Islands)