Reverse the Cuts in Further Education!

Last year in Lambeth, £81,000 of cuts were made in the welfare budget resulting in over 500 Lambeth College students with child and travel needs, having to either drop out of their courses or facing further financial hardships. The picture is similar in the Further Education (FE) sector across England and Wales.

This year, there are plans for Lambeth council to cut £290,000. This is undoubtedly going to hit most students from working-class backgrounds, denying us the right to education. Sports budgets are also being slashed. Students will not be able to continue their courses, mothers will not have the chance to study anymore, and those in specialised subjects who have to travel far will be experiencing difficulties to get to college due to high travel costs.

FE Lecturers, unionised in the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE), have been in local disputes over pay and conditions as different colleges get paid differently from their councils. But the whole FE sector is in crisis, with funding being cut across the country as part of the New Labour’s agenda for education. Many colleges are having to downgrade staff as a money saving exercise.

National Union of Students (NUS) is producing an FE sector pack to raise awareness on the cuts among students who are currently left in the dark about their education funding. Socialist Students members call and campaign for the NUS to organise local and regional meetings and demonstrations against the cuts and to link these with the struggles of the FE staff facing attacks on their pay and conditions. These would the first steps towards a national campaign against cuts in and in defence of our public services.

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