Letter: Students’ hopes are being crushed

I write as a parent who is dissatisfied with the Government’s response to appeals from students and their families to have fees and accommodation costs reduced, to compensate for the detriment caused by the Covid pandemic.

Personally, I have four children - two at Ripon Grammar School, one at LSE in his first year, and the other at Bristol University in his second year.

This year will have cost in excess of £42,000 in fees and accommodation. Just over half of this will be loans, the rest we pay from savings we’ve worked hard to build up in the preceding years.

The members of the present Government received a full university experience (at no financial cost to themselves).

It was not just the attendance at lectures (a one-way delivery of information from teacher to student) that shaped them, it was the mixing and meeting with like-minded people, the sharing and challenging of ideas, the melting pot of new friends and acquaintances These are the things that shape us at university. And these are the things denied to the current intake of students.

It’s not just the university experience, the clubs, the debates etc, but even the tuition is completely substandard. Online learning is no substitute. The Government decision to cancel school exams again this year is different from last year. Last year it was in response to the perceived dangers of having children and staff in close contact. But this year it is because children have not received sufficient education to be able to sit the usual exams. Even if they were to go ahead, they were to be of reduced content.

Therefore the Government has acknowledged that students isolating at home and receiving online lessons do not receive the quality and quantity of education that they would receive by face to face teaching.

This pandemic has never been a health risk to the young; but their actions have been a risk to the old and vulnerable. And so they have done their duty as requested by the Government, have locked down, and put their dreams and aspirations to one side. They have made huge sacrifices, and at the same time come in for the usual flak levelled at them as ‘snowflakes’.

As a student I remember attending countless demonstrations - things really mattered to me, and I wanted to take a stand. Students today are no different and, despite the way they are being so unfairly treated, it is testament to them they have followed guidance and stayed at home.

I read that a recent debate in Parliament on the subject attracted seven MPs, and resulted in three lines in Hansard. This is not good enough, not for a country that is supposed to be proud of its young and its education system.

In summary, the students appear to have nobody looking out for them, nobody asking the Government why they offer no compensation nor redress. As a parent it is heart-breaking to see so much young talent and aspiration being crushed.

As it is, we are spending £42,000 this year to watch a series of videos of questionable quality (there is better found by searching on YouTube) while their accomodation lies empty, but still has to be paid for.