Make education accessible to reduce poverty: students
By: Heidi Ulrichsen – Sudbury Northern Life
Excerpt:
Two weeks ago, Statistics Canada released a study showing that Ontario now has the highest post-secondary tuition fees in the country, according to Rafiq Rahemtulla, vice-president of the Graduate Students Association at Laurentian University.
“We used to be second to Nova Scotia, and as of this year, we’re number one. So we are demanding the McGuinty government — a government that was elected under the guise of being an education government — to correct this terrible wrong,” he said.
“We want per-student funding to be increased to at least the national average, tuition fees to be frozen and progressively reduced, and post-secondary education included as a major part of the government’s anti-poverty strategy.”
Education is “supposed to be this great social equalizer,” but it can’t help bring people out of poverty if it’s prohibitively expensive, said Rahemtulla.
“If you have to take on a mortgage-sized debt load just to get an education, you’re creating a barrier there,” he said.
Rahemtulla said the day of action has been endorsed by many municipalities across the province, including the City of Greater Sudbury.
http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2009/nov/poverty_protest110509.aspx
Rafiq’s blog: http://rafiq-misc.blogspot.com/
Ismailimail 