ULB students fight education budget cuts

ULB students fight education budget cuts

As part of their campaign for “another type of education”, the BEA (Office of student organisers) at ULB (Free University of Brussels) organised a symbolic protest followed by a meeting, to mobilise students against possible budget cuts in education, on Friday afternoon. Almost 100 members of associations and of student circles which are partners in this campaign took part in the protest. Taking the form of a citizen’s flash-mob, the protest saw students create the shape of scissors on the main avenue at ULB to represent the budget cuts.

At the meeting which followed, a debate on the general political context took place as well as a discussion on potential actions. The meeting revealed the desire to call for a mobilisation of students when the education budget amendments are announced. The BEA is also planning to join FEF (Federation of French-speaking Students) in taking part in the Something Completely Different (Tout Autre Chose) protest march on Sunday. Another student meeting will take place on Thursday.  In view of the measures planned and the terrible consequences they will have on students, we will not stop protesting,” warns Astrid Murango, organiser of the campaign. “The BEA utterly rejects the cuts, and any raise in fees which could follow.”

In fact, the BEA has been collaborating with FEF for years, launching campaigns requesting extra public funding for education and an end to budget limits. Not only have their demands not been met, they say, but the government of the Federation Wallonia-Brussels has instigated further cuts of up to 140 million euros, some of which have affected education.

(Source: Belga)  



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