Over 1,000 students marched from Picadilly Circus to Parliament on Wednesday 19th January to protest against the cut in the £30 EMA payments. These payments are a lifeline to many students, allowing them to travel to college, buy books, and as one banner said “£30 a week lets me eat,”.
The Eton boys in the Cabinet have no idea what it means to be poor, or short of money, and don’t care about the impact this cut will have on thousands of students. One survey shows that 70 percent of students would drop out if EMA is removed.
Students also marched in Sheffield and Manchester.
In Birmingham 100 EMA protestors shut down a branch of Lloyds TSB to highlight the madness of the government cutting student grants while doing nothing to stop bankers pocketing billions in bonuses. Last week on the EMA protest they shut down a branch of RBS.
birmingham EMA protest shuts lloyds bank. pics Geoff Dexter
The next date in the calendar of student protests is the 29th January. There are marches in London and Manchester to protest about the increase in Fees. Right to Work calls on everybody to join these demonstrations. For more on these protests see the Education Activist Network site here
sarah said:
Without EMA I dont think I would be able to afford different things such as biology field trips which are complusery for coursework purposes. This will tehrefore affect my learning.
20 January 2011 at 2:52pmLisa said:
i don’t think that ema should stop. without my ema i would not be able to pay for things e.g. school text books. also i would not be able to compulsory events such as the biology field trip! i think that it would affect the number of people who stay on for further education as many households would not be able to pay out the costs!
20 January 2011 at 2:54pmHayley said:
I think it’s disgusting, my mum is registered disabled and
20 January 2011 at 8:01pmIs partially sighted and has a 6 year old child. She cannot physically work and without ema i would find it very hard to get by. I have been trying to get a job for 6month and have not had one
Single interview. So ema is the only money I am currently getting.
Hannah Hanson said:
I will find it hard to travel to college when i leave school without ema!!
24 January 2011 at 3:21pmLouise said:
My mum is too partially disabled. My mothers boyfriend lives with us therefore I don’t get EMA because of what he earns, but that doesnt mean I get any money from him. I have to spend my own money on food and travel…
25 January 2011 at 8:01pmphil said:
Are you insane? Of course the EMA should be cut – imagine the mess if it continued to be paid and the bankers could only award themselves six thousand million pounds instead of the usual seven every year – the poor dears would be eating cat food out of cans and wrapping themselves in foil.
27 January 2011 at 5:33pmSneha said:
Think about the students please. I live on EMA. Without EMA I don’t know what to do. Please don’t cut out EMA payments. Some people desperately need them!
14 February 2011 at 3:07pmSASHA said:
THIS IS SO STUPID! DAVID CAMERON IS JUST CUTTING EMA CUZ HE DON’T NEED TO ! BUT FOR PLEOPLE LIKE ME AND I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE IS GONNA BE VERY HARD LIVE WITHOUT EMA! I KNOW SOME PEOPLE SPEND THE MONEY IN CLOTHES AND THINGS LIKE THAT ! BUT WE CANNOT PUT EVERYONE ON THE SAME BAG THIS IS JUST SO STUPID DAVID CAMERON IS GOING TO RUIN ALOT OF PEOPLE LIVES!
9 March 2011 at 2:41pm