In the UK the New Year was greeted by a further wave of angry protests by students responding to the Government’s cuts to the education budget. The latest announcement was that Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) would be scrapped, meaning that 16-18 year olds from lower income families will no longer be able to receive a weekly payment to enable them to stay in post-16 education. The announcement follows the controversial vote by the House of Commons to raise the university tuition fee limit from its current £3290 to £9000 (€10,500) as of 2012. The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government has claimed that its new plans for tuition fees are progressive and fair, despite criticism that debt-averse students from lower income backgrounds will be deterred from applying to university. The main target of the students’ anger is Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, who signed a personal pledge pre-election to vote against any further rise in tuition fees. His Liberal Democrat party claims to want “to help people from poorer backgrounds go on to higher education” but their recent actions have called this commitment into doubt.

Photo:Flickr, Seb.Kom