The forgotten generation

By Susan Nash

Tonight’s news will be awash with the responses, the commentary the fallout of today’s dramatic slash and burn spending cuts.

However wont probably wont be reported is the devastating impact of these cuts on us; the next generation. The age group who had the least to do with the banking crisis but the group forced to bail it all out.

The cuts to services that have a direct impact on our livelihoods have been coming in hard and fast. First there was the cut to the future jobs fund, announced earlier this summer. Then there was the debacle of the freezing of the Building Schools for Future programmes, and barely had that disaster left the news than the devastating headlines of 185,000 people denied access to a university course.

But this is just tip of the iceberg. In recent weeks we’ve seen the hypocrisy’s of the ConDem’s really come to the fore. On a daily basis we hear of the need to reduce the deficit, the need to ensure that we as a nation learn to live within our means, the need to bring down debt immediately, the lack of any alternatives. Yet this mantra appears to dissipate when it comes to young people, as the government seem intent on passing the burden of the cuts onto the next generation, with tuition fees increases marketed as essential to cover the gap in university funding, as the state withdraws public investment from higher education.

Browne indicated cuts of an eye watering scale for higher education, with predictions now of anywhere between 40-80% cuts to the teaching grant. This could mark the beginnings of a full scale privatisation of our UK education system – a sector which delivers around £60bn a year in jobs, exports, and innovation.

Education is not just a cornerstone of economic output, it’s vital to ensure future generations are skilled to meet the needs of future job markets. As other European countries have invested in education we have repeatedly withdrawn.

But there is hope. Students in the UK are not sitting idly by, we are getting organised. On the 10th November students and academics will be marching together to fight for the future of our education. Join NUS on the march. Stand up for students, by signing up today.

Yes cuts need to be made, and we will all need to feel the brunt. But we cannot accept young people completely shouldering the burden for a crisis we had no role in making. After all our futures are intrinsically linked with those that have come before us. It’s my generation who will be left paying the pensions of the politicians now determining where the axe shall fall.