Leicester March for Free Education

By Thomas Barker, Leicester Socialist Students

As part of a national day of action, people across Leicester will be coming together to march for free education on Saturday the 31st of January. The march has been organized by student groups at Leicester and De Montfort University, including Socialist Students, Young Greens, and Defend Education, but has received welcome support from the National Union of Teachers and Leicester Trades Council.

Building upon the 10,000 strong demonstration in London last November, it is crucial that we now try to connect justice in education with the struggle against austerity in general. In bringing together the fight for free education with the anti-academy movement and the reinstallation of Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), the demonstration aims to build a broad movement against the government’s attacks on education.

Overworked and under-resourced teachers; students faced with a lifetime of debt; the climate of competition and bullying in higher education which led to the suicide of Stefan Grimm at Imperial College last November; the creeping influence of private interests at all levels of education… these are all effects of this government’s oppressive polices. Profit has no place in education.

After the student demonstrations in 2011, the student movement has been at a low ebb. But over the last year political consciousness on the campus has started to reignite. With the success of the student movement in Germany, as well as the parliamentary success of Syriza in Greece, students are beginning to see that there is an alternative to cuts, debt, and privatization.

The government is intent on making ordinary people shoulder the burden of the economic crisis. It is time that we stand up against them and call for an end to the marketising of education!

The fight for free education is an important part of the struggle against austerity, so whether you’re fed up with low wages, extortionate rents, or crippling debt join the march to make your voice heard.

The demonstration will be meeting at Victoria Park car park at 12:00 and marching to the clock tower for a rally at 12.15.