Student protests on eve of crucial EMA vote


by Sunny Hundal    
4:10 pm - January 13th 2011

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Students, staff and trade unions are uniting for two days of action on Tuesday (18 January) and Wednesday (19 January) as part of their campaign to save the education maintenance allowance (EMA).

The action comes ahead of an opposition day debate in Parliament on the Wednesday that was only confirmed today.

On Tuesday colleges and sixth-forms around the country will be holding lunchtime demonstrations and on Wednesday there will be lobby in the House of Commons from 1pm to 4pm.

Following the debate on Wednesday, MPs will vote on a motion that calls on the government to rethink its plans to scrap the financial support.

Moe details on www.saveema.co.uk and www.emacampaign.org.uk as they re known.

Studies show that the EMA is a key factor in improving participation in further education and colleges in some of the most deprived areas of the UK.

If the government breaks its pre-election promise and scraps the EMA, some of the poorest areas in the UK will be affected.

The protests and lobby are being organised by the Save EMA campaign, the National Union of Students (NUS), the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the University and College Union (UCU), the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), Unison, Unite, and the GMB.

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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. Watchman

Sunny,

A serious question here – since the government is planning to make attendance in education mandatory to age 18, is there a long-term need for EMAs?

2. SciFiBoy

I will be there, as I was on the 9th December for the anti fees and cuts protest :)

3. lupine

Watchman – I guess if they ensure child benefit is paid to 18, but give it to the child rather than the parent from 16-18, we could drop EMA.

But, I don’t think they’re going to do that.

4. Evil baby-killing Tory conspiracy

Could anybody perhaps explain to me why, if EMA is so important for poor people, social mobility is worse now than it was in the 1960s and 1970s, decades before EMA was introduced?


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
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  8. Lauren G

    @greglovelluk https://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/01/13/nationwide-student-protests-on-eve-of-crucual-ema-vote-on-19th-jan/





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