Bring back student grant, campaigners demand

Student leaders gather to launch their campaign. Photograph: NUS

On Wednesday, for the first time in two years, the National Union of Students will lead tens of thousands of students to march on the streets of London to express our anger at the government's attacks on education.

One of the central demands of the march will be to give young people the chance to fulfill their potential by bringing back the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). Until it was scrapped nearly two years ago, it enabled some of the poorest students in this country to stay in education.

In my own college, MidKent, which has around 4,500 students studying both academic and vocational courses, the loss of the EMA is deeply felt.

Tracy, 18, will be taking part in her first ever protest next week because she believes the government is not listening to the views of young people who want the allowance brought back.

She says: "The EMA meant a lot to me because it helped me to get by. I used the EMA to get food, buy stationary and travel to college. It helped me to be independent.

"Now that it has been scrapped, I have to rely on my parents if I need anything – which they cannot afford. Without enough jobs for young people, there is no other way I can find the money to support myself."

The EMA was a lifeline. It allowed over half a million of the poorest young people in Britain to access further education, support themselves and feel a sense of independence. Its abolition has had a hugely detrimental impact, hitting young women and ethnic minority students particularly hard.

- guardian.co.uk