Jonny Dickens, Socialist Students national steering committee
Just two days after the free education student demonstration on 4 November took place in central London, the government planned more devastating attacks on Higher Education which were outlined in a widely criticised ‘green paper’. Perhaps the most significant change is the plan to remove the £9,000 tuition fee cap for top universities.
Of course this is damaging for students who will likely already struggle to pay the current debt for university, but it also means that higher education is at risk of being split up into a two-tier system.
The paper also includes plans for new institutions to allow private bodies to enter universities and influence department and course plans. These changes are further proof that the government wants to treat students like consumers and universities as businesses.
While our protest was not in vain, it is clear that the Tory government is yet to end its attack on students. Students must not allow these plans to go unchallenged. Socialist Students, calls on all activists to put pressure on the National Union of Students and our student unions to organise co-ordinated national student strikes and walkouts.
With a mass movement of students and workers we can build on the momentum of the recent demonstration and bring the government’s plans to an immediate halt. We demand grants, not debt. We demand that education should be a right, not a privilege.
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Socialist Students to the fore on march for free education
Socialist Students was an organised, vocal and visible force at the ‘Free Education’ student demonstration in London on 4 November and was to the fore in helping mobilise for it.
On the march Socialist Students made our voices heard, shouting out demands to scrap tuition fees, bring back student grants, stop all cuts and privatisation to education and calling for a fully funded education system that’s publicly owned and democratically run.
Richard Shattock, Socialist Party Hatfield
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Day of action
25 November
called by Socialist Students
- Oppose the Tories’ ‘comprehensive spending review’
- Not to cuts
- Fight for free education