- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
By Amna Kaleem
Policies on education have been amongst the most unpopular initiatives taken by the coalition government. A look at the tuition fee protests all over the country is enough to gauge the anger of students. While most of the protests were focused on rise in tuition fees, almost every protest had a group of students from sixth form colleges and schools who were out to protest the scrapping of Education Maintenance Allowance.
The EMA is a weekly allowance of £10, £20 and £30 paid to students who are 16 to 18 years old. The amount paid varies according to the student’s family income, those living below £20,817 qualify for £30, those between £20,818 and £25,521 are eligible for £20 and the students whose family income is between £25,522 and £30,810 get £10 per week. The money is paid directly into the students’ bank accounts and is stopped if they fail to be punctual or attend their classes regularly.
The fund which was set up by the Labour government in 2004 is now being scrapped, which means from next academic year around 647,000 students across the country cannot claim their EMA. In Sheffield alone, there are little over 6,000 students who benefit from EMA. There has been a lot of debate on the subject, some feel students spend the money on iTunes and PS3 games, a claim which may not be completely unfounded as some students who qualify for EMA do not need it to support their education. However, there are also students who would not be able to pursue education if this small weekly payment is withdrawn.
At Longley Park Sixth Form College around 75% of students receive EMA. Here is an interview with college students Abby Thompson and Shanice Wright and their teacher James Finlayson:
One of the success stories of EMA is James Mills who used the programme to pursue further education and was able to go to university. James now works as a parliamentary researcher and has started the Save EMA campaign. James talks about how EMA helped him and how the campaign to save this fund is gaining momentum, nationally:
James Mills
For more information on the campaign, visit http://saveema.co.uk/
The report was aired on Communities Live on December 17, 2010.
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