Scrapping EMA 'is false economy'

January 19 2011

Doing away with Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) payments for disadvantaged students would not be cost-effective in the long term, it has been suggested.

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said that in cutting EMA the government is taking a "huge and unnecessary" gamble with young people and their futures.

She claimed that many pupils will be forced to leave college without these payments.

"This would be a colossal waste of talent, condemn many young people to unemployment, and would be a completely false economy resulting in higher unemployment among young people, college closures and redundancies among lecturers," Dr Bousted commented.

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said earlier this week that removing EMA is "symptomatic of the coalition government's elitist education agenda".

He added that all students should press their local MPs to demonstrate their commitment to educational equality by voting against the government on this issue.

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