School pupils plan national walkout over tuition fees

• Thousands sign up for day of protest action over cuts
• Facebook groups set up to rally support around Britain

* Matthew Taylor, Paul Lewis and Bibi van der Zee
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 19 November 2010 19.29 GMT


Thousands of schoolchildren and sixth formers are expected to take part in a national walkout on Wednesday as student protests over fees, which saw more than 50,000 people march in London last week, are stepped up across the country.

More than 16,000 young people have signed up to take part in the "day of action" and student leaders are predicting sit-ins, demonstrations and occupations in protest at plans to raise tuition fees and scrap the education maintenance allowance [EMA].

At the forefront of the demonstrations will be thousands of school and FE students – some as young as 15 – who have organised scores of walkouts across the country.

"The great thing about what has happened over the last week is that this idea of protest has embedded itself in the wider student community," said Michael Chessum, 21, co-founder of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) which called the protest for next week. "All of a sudden there is a feeling that we do have some power that we can change things through peaceful direct action."

Facebook groups supporting the day of action have sprung up across the country, with pupils and FE students taking a leading role.

Jack, a 15-year-old pupil at Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College in south-east London said around 60 pupils at his school were planning a "walkout".

"I'm really worried about not being able to go university ... we realised we wanted to do something too, to demonstrate against what is happening. At first we thought we'd just go to the protest, and then we thought we could make it bigger, and stage a proper walkout."

Thousands of university, college and school students are expected to take to the streets in protests in Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.

A delegation of students from Westminster Kingsway further education college in London approached activists at the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) .

Ellen White, 18, studying sociology and history A level at Westminster Kingsway, said there was growing anger over the government's plan to axe the education maintenance allowance – the means-tested benefit for people in post-16 education.

"They are cutting the EMA and people are struggling enough already." said White. "This is a really big deal for a lot of working class students here and as soon as you mention it people get really concerned. It is the difference between whether they can get lunch or not, whether they are going to be able to afford the tube and get to college on time," she said.

Maham Hashmi, 27, at Soas, said the two groups were working together to mobilise support on both campuses. "They can see their educational opportunities slipping away in front of them and they are trying to do something about it," she said.

In Newcastle, pupils from several schools have signed up to join a demonstration in the city centre and a teach-in at the university. Will Lloyd, 18, a sixth form pupil at the Queen Elizabeth High school in Hexham, Northumberland, said at least 50 people at his school were planning to join the protests. "People were really excited about what had happened [on the demonstration in London] and were obviously keen to do something. It was very interesting and surprising. I thought if just a few people would join it would be worthwhile, but it has just ballooned in a way I never expected ... there is a sense of wanting to be involved in the political process and of wanting to have a voice and that has really caught on."

Rowan Rheingans, 22, a third-year sociology student at Newcastle, said university activists had been working closely with students at local schools and colleges since last week's demonstration.

"A lot of the energy and drive has come from the school students over the past week which has been amazingly inspiring," she said. "They are really angry about what is happening and approached us earlier this week to work together – to be honest it is them that have driven a lot of what we are doing."

Last week's demonstration ended in violence when a small minority of students stormed Conservative party headquarters, breaking windows and scuffling with the police. The Met said it would use "appropriate and proportionate" policing during next week's protests and encouraged all protest groups to "talk to officers about their intentions".

Student leaders are holding a general assembly on Sunday to discuss tactics and strategies before the day of action, but they say they are expecting sit-ins and walk outs across the country. In London there are plans for a series of occupations as well as a "carnival of resistance", a rally in Trafalgar Square and possibly a protest outside Liberal Democrat headquarters.

Chessum, taking a year out of his history degree at UCL to be a sabbatical officer, said it was impossible to say exactly how many people would take part as the protest had developed a "life of its own".

He added: "We are determined to keep the pressure up through peaceful action. The plan is to get students of all kinds to get together up and down the country to make clear the strength of feeling and force the government to back down."

School pupils plan national walkout over tuition fees | Education | The Guardian