Students protest in London, Photo: Lucy Nichols
Students continue to march against education inequality and for Gavin Williamson to go, reports Lucy Nichols.
On Saturday, A Level students marched down Oxford Street and on to the Department of Education to demand the resignation of Gavin Williamson, the minister responsible for the A Level results scandal that left thousands of working class students without the grades they deserved.
Though the government has since made a swift u-turn, and Centre Assessed Grades will be made official, many students still feel they have been forgotten by the system. BTEC students still have not had any results at all, and many A Level students have declined University places, or taken gap years they cannot afford, because of the confusion over grades.
Though the victory felt by the students who had organised the protest was apparent, the anger felt towards the Tory government was even more obvious. Speeches in Marble Arch demonstrated this, as students called for the unfair education system to be drastically reformed, Eton to be abolished and for Williamson to resign. The issue of classism was raised by both speakers and various hand-made signs, as students called for an end to the classist system that allows the minority a better education than the majority.
As the protestors marched on, down Oxford Street and towards Parliament Square, onlookers beeped horns and rang bicycle bells in support. This was particularly strong as chants began to take aim at Boris Johnson (‘Boris Johnson, f*** off back to Eton’) and the Tory government (‘When I say Tory, you say scum!’).
Eventually protests reached the Department of Education, where the hundred or so teenagers present staged a brief sit-in. This only lasted a few minutes or so before police threatened them with arrest if they didn’t get out of the (very quiet) road. Crammed onto the narrow pavement, the final few speeches were heard, concluding a small but powerful demonstration.
More protests will be taking place next Saturday in various cities.
Head to @alevel21strike on Instagram for more updates.
- London | Parliament Square, 1PM
- Bristol | College Green, 1PM
- Leeds | Millennium Square, 1PM
- Manchester | St Peters Square, 1PM
- Birmingham | Victoria Square, 1PM
- Truro | Lemon Quay, 1PM
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