As the House of Commons narrowly voted to support the coalition government’s plans to raise university tuition fees in England to £9000, a huge rebellion by members of the Liberal Democrat party signalled deep rifts and disarray. They may have won the vote, but at what political cost to the party’s future, and at what personal price for Nick Clegg?
As the day of the Parliamentary vote on tuition fees draws near, we recap the major points of the debate on fees, from the government’s plans to raise university fees to £9000 and scrap state education funding, to the staunch opposition organised by the National Union of Students and their president Aaron Porter. What will be the outcome of the vote on tuition fees?
With the publication of this week’s Million+ report claiming that 65% of students will be worse off under the government’s proposals for raised tuition fees, Nick Clegg has lost his last vestiges of support. The student population, the general public, and even his own party have been left angry and disillusioned, but it is his own supercilious and condescending attitude towards the protesters that has truly left Nick Clegg standing very much alone.
As the protests against tuition fees continute, splits have emerged on both sides of the debate, with NUS president Aaron Porter criticised by students for his lack of public support of the protests following small outbreaks of violence at the first march. Meanwhile, prominent Liberal Democrats are calling on Nick Clegg to break from Cameron’s politics and stay faithful to party policy, in a petition for Lib Dem MPs to vote against tuition fee hikes in parliament. The pressure is on.
In spite of tens of thousands of students organising peaceful protests, sit-ins and demonstrations across the country, the government still refuses to budge on tuition fees. Worst of all, in a cowardly act of self-preservation, the government has chosen to heavily imply that the student protesters are yobbish, ignorant thugs who do not deserve a response, rather than acknowledging or addressing their legitimate concerns.
A recent study has shown that an “obsession” with social networking is having a devastating effect on the literacy and learning of school children across the country. Social networking is distracting them in class and when they should be doing their homework, whilst their general world view and cultural awareness is not developing properly. Isn’t it time to ban school children from Facebook?
As Michael Gove announces the award of ‘free school’ status to 25 new schools, we examine the proposed system and look at those arguing for and against its implementation. Will ‘free schools’ be a blessing for our society, giving parents greater control over their children’s education, or a curse, diverting important funds from state schools and allowing any organisations to set up schools indoctrinating children with their own ideology?
Throughout the coverage of the planned rise in tuition fees and the public reaction to it, the Liberal Democrats have been universally condemned and vilified for their part in forming the government’s education policy. However nobody has stopped to actually consider the facts of the Liberal Democrats’ current political situation, or to acknowledge the steps they have taken to make the government proposals much fairer and more lenient for poorer students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
