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Save the education maintenance allowance
The government intends to axe the education maintenance allowance (EMA) for students in England. This will have a massive impact on those families in our communities who most need support to undertake education.
According to a recent survey, 70 per cent of students who receive the education maintenance allowance (EMA) will drop out of college if the government follows through on plans to scrap it.
The EMA was a means-tested allowance of between £10 and £30, paid to 16- to 19-year-olds who stay on in education. In 2009-10, 635,000 learners received at least one EMA payment, and around 80 per cent of those the full £30.
The EMA helped support a huge increase in the number of young people from less well-off backgrounds going onto college. Students in areas with higher levels of social hardship are most dependent on the weekly financial support, and will therefore be hit hard by this cut. Thousands of students could now be forced to drop out of college which will in turn also put even more college jobs at risk.
The government is scrapping the scheme and a vote in parliament on 19 January to reverse this decision was defeated.
Students, staff and trade unions united for two days of action on Tuesday 18 January and Wednesday 19 January as part of their campaign to save the education maintenance allowance (EMA). The protests were the subject of a letter sent by a number of education unions to The Guardian, published on 15 January 2010.
Applications for the EMA after 1 January 2011 will not be accepted - see ATL's help and advice page on the EMA for more information.
Education Select Committee
An Education Select Committee will be considering the impact of EMA and its replacement on 2 March 2011. The inquiry will focus on 16-19 participation in education and training:
What impact the EMA has had on the participation, attendance, achievement and welfare of young people and how effective will be the Discretionary Learner Support Fund in replacing it.
What preparations are necessary, for providers and local authorities, for the gradual raising of the participation age to 18 years and what is their current state of readiness.
What impact raising the participation age will have on areas such as academic achievement, access to vocational education and training, student attendance and behaviour, and alternative provision.
What you can do:
You can submit evidence to the Education Select Committee via via http://emacampaign.org.uk/email-the-education-committee/.
You can also:
sign the joint union EMA petition at http://emacampaign.org.uk/sign/
contact your local MP via www.writetothem.com and ask them to sign the petition
watch this video from protests at one college on the day of action against the cuts on 13 December 2010.
read up on the issues and up-to-date news at http://emacampaign.org.uk and http://saveema.co.uk/.