Filed under: Education, Politics | Tags: Education, military, Politics, top up fees, university
From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7503807.stm
“Service personnel are to be given university education free of charge after they end their duty with the armed forces, it has been reported.”
The government has long offered to pay tuition fees of students as an incentive to keep them in the military, but now seems to be going one step further. All this when we’re still being told that it simply isn’t affordable to give free education to students in Higher Education. And which students’ is this going to be primarily targeting? How about the working class students who can’t afford the £3000 (and increasing) fees every year.
Why is it that those that can’t afford to pay for a university education are the one’s that are going abroad to fight our wars? And why is it that University campus’ are increasingly looking like military recruitment grounds? And why aren’t we seeing a free education for the victims and the families in Iraq and Afghanistan, while their money and resources is being shared out amongst the major western corporations that have sponsored these wars?
Free education should be available to all, and not just the prize for fighting for six years in an illegal and unjust war. Pressure needs to increase on the government to say no to war, and no to the practice of military recruitment in our schools and university campuses.
