Red Cross: secondary school students want more first-aid training at their school

More than 700 students aged 13 to 18 were asked questions about first aid at school in the representative study. The research shows that schools are the ideal place to learn first aid. The Red Cross therefore wants to take action, together with all secondary schools in the Netherlands and other organisations that can take up the challenge together.

‘One day, we may have to save lives’

In the study, 42 percent said that first-aid lessons are provided at their school. But not everyone took such a lesson; this was the case for 33 percent of secondary school students. They believe that number can increase. More than 80 percent want (more) room for first aid in education.

In their explanation of whether more first-aid lessons should be introduced in schools, students said that ‘anything can always happen, and then you are prepared’, for example ‘out on the street’ or ‘with your parents’. As one student summed it up: “It is important that we learn this, because one day we will be the people who have to save lives.”

Hundreds of thousands of students

Students believe their school is the best place to take a course. “The Red Cross sees that there is a real need among young people to master life-saving procedures,” says Suzanne Segaar, Head of National Aid at the Red Cross.

The aid organisation has been providing first-aid courses at schools with increasing frequency since 2019 and issues thousands of certificates every year. In the 2023–2024 school year, the Netherlands had nearly 950,000 secondary school students. Segaar: “That represents enormous potential for the future if they can all provide first aid. But the Red Cross cannot train all these young people. We will have to do that together. So let us commit to first-aid lessons at all schools in the Netherlands. Schools have started again everywhere in the Netherlands, so we can take this up together now. The Red Cross is happy to help and contribute ideas.”

In 2019, the Red Cross, together with the doctors’ collective Schok & Pomp, Radio 10 and radio DJ Rob van Someren, launched a petition for structural first-aid lessons in secondary education. More than 60,000 people signed the petition. The House of Representatives debated it in 2021, but despite a parliamentary majority in favour of more first-aid knowledge in education, it is not currently compulsory.

In the photos: first-aid lessons at a school in Emmen.