#FreeEducation demonstration

Students took to parliament square in London to protest against the continuing rise of tuition fees, in what has been called the biggest protest since the infamous 2010 student protests.

By Calum Archibald

Many students have cited Germany and Norway as examples of how free education works, and argued that in one of the richest countries in the world, free education would be an investment in the future of the country. Many international students feel that they are getting a raw deal, as NUS’s (National Union of Students) International Student’s Officer explained, “Ideally free education should happen in every part of the world, and even for international students, until just 35 years ago it was free.”

Over 10,000 students took part in the demonstration, although the NUS officially withdrew its support of the demo after ‘safety fears’, despite this there were only 4 arrests during the entire day, a miniscule 0.04%, as the protest generally stayed peaceful. There were some incidents including daubing paint across the NUS’s national offices, as well as minor outbreaks of violence, but the vast majority of students stayed peaceful and demonstrated their point well.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg, synonymous with his broken promises about not raising tuition fees, insisted that “Raising tuition fees has not deterred poor from going to University.” A statement that was met with little agreement as the Lib Dem’s support falls yet again, with a staggeringly paltry percentage of the vote at the recent Rochester and Strood by-election. Gaining their lowest ever total of 339 votes, totalling just 0.87% of the vote, finishing just above the Official Monster Raving Loony party.

#education #news