SESSION 11: TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 15TH DECEMBER
U.K. STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITY FEES PROTEST
Text taken and adapted from:
Tens of thousands of students across the U.K. took part in protests on Wednesday against their government’s increase in tuition fees. They were speaking out against the three-fold rise in the prices universities can charge, and voicing their opposition to the scrapping of benefits that will harm poor students. The nationwide protest was organized by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC). High school and university students, teachers and lecturers took to the streets to demonstrate. Around 10,000 protestors rallied in London, where there were arrests after ugly clashes left a police officer with a broken arm. The protests were largely trouble-free, unlike those two weeks earlier in which the ruling Conservative Party headquarters was attacked.
Britain’s ruling coalition government have made many cuts to university education, while at the same time allowing universities to increase tuition fees from $5,624 a year to $14,400. They say these measures are necessary to reduce the country’s budget deficit. Most of the public fury is directed at the junior coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, whose election pledge earlier this year was to abolish tuition and maintain transport benefits for students from low-income families. Their leader has done a total U-turn and broken these promises. Until the late 1990s, British students did not need to pay tuition, and many poorer students received weekly living allowances from the government. Many protestors believe this will kill opportunities for the poor. They carried banners saying: “R.I.P. My Degree.”
'U.K. Students in University Fees Protest' - 25th November, 2010
In times of crisis, it always comes up what really matters to politicians. This is something that can be seen in their decisions and financial cutbacks, it is therefore a verifiable fact and not just an opinion. So, students in the UK are suffering the consequences of policy decisions made by their newly elected leaders.
ReplyDeleteWhen an economical crisis appears, I think that the most appropriate would be to spend public funds to promote R & D and development of a quality Education, in order to create a strong and effective base for future generations.
Obviously, cutbacks are essentials, but they should start doing them from the inside to outside. That is, the government and politicians should be more austere than ever, thus cutting the cost of protocol, the travelling expenses, public works what are not urgent or important and similar thinks.
For instance, when a family has economical problems, they only spend their money in basic necessities, but their sons and daughters don’t leave the school at the first hurdle. So, why has British Government made that decision? Because what it is really important for them is not Education.
To sum up, if education is very expensive for a government, then this government should bet on ignorance, to see what price the country will have to pay at the end.