Labour Shadow Minister for Education, Andy Burnham, Cllr Pat Hawkes and Labour group Leader Cllr Gill Mitchell met with students recently, to discuss education in the City.

In a round table discussion, students talked with the senior national and local Labour politicians about the devastating impact that the cuts to EMAs will have to their learning.  Principal Phil Fryer led the informal discussion and encouraged the wide range of students to talk about their college experiences.

17 year old childcare student, Chelsea Kerley spends all of her £30 a week EMA on buses to and from City College said;

“I live over 10 miles away, how am I supposed to get to college without my EMA?  It is as if they are destroying my dreams.  We should all have equal rights, rich or poor, when it comes to education.”

Andy Burnham offered a 2 week work placement for Chelsea with him and his team in Westminster and said;

“The college has a fantastic atmosphere and the students I met were a really impressive and informed group of young people.

Hearing their stories about the potential impacts of these reforms emphasises my view that the Coalition Government is kicking away the ladder supporting students from lower income backgrounds. They run the risk of creating an elitist education system, which flies in the face of both equality of opportunity and social mobility.

These students are reliant on EMA for basic support for their studies, from transport to and from college, to buying supplies for vocational courses.I don’t know how Mr Gove could possibly justify his views on the worth of the EMA after hearing the stories I have heard from the students here today.

We will continue our fight to save EMA and I am pleased to see dedicated Labour Councillors like Gill Mitchell and Pat Hawkes doing everything they can to support us in doing this.”

Rebecca Conroy, Head of Recruitment and 14-19 Partnerships at City College said;

“We are working hard to find ways to bridge the gap that the EMA cuts will leave and will be doing everything we can to support our most vulnerable learners.  However, we are already seeing an impact on recruitment onto our mid-year programmes that target disengaged learners and attribute this to EMA abolition the huge reduction in the Connexions Services.