By James Basle
CANBERRA — More than 1000 secondary students participated in a walkout of classes, on Tuesday, November 16, to protest against the ACT Labor government's recent cuts to education. Eight of the nine colleges and five high schools participated in the walkout, organised by the Secondary Students Against Cuts (SSAC) campaign and by Resistance.
Principals and nearly all principal advisory committees or student representative councils attempted to undermine the walkouts. A collection of principals had a meeting just before the walkout to discuss SSAC and Resistance.
Many students were intimidated by some principals and teachers into not attending the walkout and rally. Some teachers physically blocked the exits of the classrooms.
One principal suggested that a college student might lose marks for attending the walkout and stated that students should not be allowed to discuss politics at school.
At Kambah High, one teacher organised a meeting of year seven students to tell them that any student who walked out would be suspended for truanting, even though you cannot actually be suspended for truanting, but can only be put on detention.
Many SRCs did not give students the choice of participating in the walkout. They did not organise student meetings, even though many students demanded them and even though many students supported the walkout.
At Lake Tuggeranong College, where an SRC member did organise a mass meeting of students, some 400 students decided to support the walkout.
The high point of the protests was a spirited and enthusiastic rally of about 250 students at the Chesspit in Garema Place. A number of speakers addressed the rally and some jugglers entertained the crowd.
Students from Lake Tuggeranong College, Lake Ginninderra College, Lyneham High, Stirling College and Dickson College spoke. Students described the need to get high school students involved in the campaign, as the cuts would be affecting them in the future. The federal Labor government had just cut 100 places for students at universities, and the cuts would undermine their future.
The president of the Australian Education Union, Rosemary Richards, spoke about how impressed she was with the organisation of the rally. She said the teachers would be introducing work bans.
Kath Gelber from the Democratic Socialist Party spoke about the disempowerment of young people. She urged independent MLAs Michael Moore and Helen Szuty to block the budget to stop the cuts, and said we need a green left alternative to the "Laberals", like the Alliance in New Zealand.
A speaker from Resistance said young people need to have their own organisation so that they can fight the politicians' cuts.
Students then marched to the Legislative Assembly, where they chanted, "Education, a right not a privilege", "No ifs, no buts, stop the cuts" and "One, two, three and a bit, the Labor Party's full of shit". The banner at the head of the rally read, "Defend education. Not Labor, not Liberal, but Resistance".
At the assembly, students continued to chant. They presented education minister Bill Wood with over a thousand signed petitions and invited him to address the rally. He declined, saying that he was "too busy" to spend five minutes discussing the issues with students.
Student demands included:
- an end to plans to cut 80 teachers and 10 support workers;
- more subject choice, not less;
- that students have the right to attend protests and to discuss politics in their schools;
- that corporate tax be increased from 33% to 49% and that the extra money go to education.
The Canberra Times of 17 November quoted Wood as saying that he was aware that a "far-left political group" had been "agitating" among college students and that had played a role in organising the demonstration.
According to Kamini Junankar, a member of Resistance and a student at Narrabundah College, "Wood is just trying to divert the issues away from education because he knows so many of the community oppose the cuts. Resistance is a radical youth organisation with many members on high schools, and we are proud to campaign for quality education."
A teacher at Kambah High has apparently been telling students that Resistance is a "cult".
The AEU has encouraged schools not to resubscribe to the Canberra Times because of its anti-education bias.
Students are planning a further action on Saturday, December 4, at 1 p.m. at the Chesspit, Garema Place, Civic. Students interested in getting involved can ring Kamini on 247 2424.