Continuing Education Campaign: Update

I'm grateful to the organisers behind the Reading Campaign for Continuing Education for this comprehensive campaign update. Keep up the good work!

If you haven't already done so - sign the petition.

The campaigners asked a question to Council on the issue last week to the Lead Member for Education - Cllr Jon Hartley.

He said:

"It is very sad that the University is once again looking to remove facilities that are valued and much used by local people, particularly at a time when informal adult learning is nationally very topical.  I do hope that your campaign is more successful than other recent appeals to the University's sense of civic responsibility.”

How ironic that Cllr Hartley should be expressing regret at the University's decision to close this department when he we know that thanks to the Labour government the University is in a very tight spot in terms of identifying future funding for many of its courses.

Once again we see Reading Labour Party distancing itself from unpopular decisions taken by the Labour government.

The campaign website includes an excerpt from a heartfelt letter from a current student to the Secretary of State, copied below for information:

"I feel very strongly that if Adult Education (which has a number of providers, not simply universities) continues in its present spiral of decline it will reflect very adversely on the reputation of the Government of which you are a member. On a political level, the people who attend such classes are highly articulate and determined; we will not go away and we have votes. On a personal level, I have been a Labour voter for many years; at the moment I am struggling to convince myself that I should not change my vote at the next election.”

“I venture to guess that in twenty or so years (when I most likely will not be around) a successor Government will wake up one day and say ‘Whatever happened to adult education? How did this great provision simply disappear?’ Help us to prevent that catastrophe happening, please!”

A public meeting is planned for May. Let's hope Cllr Hartley has come up with a more convincing line on his Party's position by then.