Colleges will decide who gets the new 16-19 bursaries, but the money available has been cut from �560m to 180m
Education secretary Michael Gove has undertaken another policy U-turn by announcing a more generous than expected replacement for the education maintenance allowance, setting aside �180m a year.
But the scheme, described as "16-19 bursaries", represents a cut of two-thirds from the previous �560m annual budget and will be targeted only at the poorest students, so depriving hundreds of thousands of students of state support for further education.
Gove announced the abolition of EMA, aimed at students in households earning under �21,000 a year, as part of the spending review in the autumn. Nearly 640,000 students took up EMA in 2009-10.
His decision led to mass protests in further education colleges, legal challenges, and Lib Dem calls for a rethink. Faced by record youth unemployment, David Cameron agreed to call in Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes to work through a replacement scheme. Gove told MPs that the scheme drawn up with Hughes will be better targeted at the poor, and largely discretionary ? administered by further education colleges.
Each college will next academic year receive a fixed sum, based on the college's previous EMA grant. College principals will distribute funds to students, with guidelines from the Department for Education stressing the money should go to cover food, travel and equipment. Gove argued college leaders were best placed to know those students in need of help.
In a sign of the hurried rethink over EMA, officials admitted the basis of the scheme could change after next year, and even said colleges could link payments to student performance.
Of the �180m bursary fund, �110m will come from a contingency fund in the Department for Education and a further �70m from the Treasury following pressure from the Lib Dems.
Gove also announced that all second year students who began courses in 2009-10 will receive full EMA of �30 a week in their final year. Young people who started courses in the 2010-11 academic year and received the �30 maximum a week will get �20 a week instead until the end of the next academic year. Anyone who had been receiving under �30 will receive nothing.
In addition, 12,000 students (those in care, care-leavers, and those receiving income support) will get an annual �1,200 bursary if they stay in education.
Students in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will continue to receive EMA.
Hughes said: "The new scheme and money are ? good news for future students from all low-income families across the country who can in future have their travel costs met and face no financial barrier to going to college.
Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham said: "I don't think we can dignify today's announcement with the word U-turn. You [the government] have taken a successful policy which improved participation, attendance and achievement in post-16 education, and turned it into a total shambles."
James Mills, head of Save EMA campaign, said: "This is clearly a small victory for Save EMA as it was us who scared Gove into paying current students on EMA, but the war continues as the government is cutting EMA by 60% instead of 90% and many hundreds of thousands of the poorest pupils will no longer receive it." The government suffered a defeat in the Lords when peers voted by 225 to 162 to stop ministers abolishing the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB).
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/mar/28/gove-unveils-cutprice-replacement-emas
Henry Kissinger Dennis Kucinich Nelson Mandela Paul Martin John McCain
No comments:
Post a Comment