9th Apr2009 Save Our Schools Rally

On 9th Apr after a local demo through Maryhill G20 which stands to lose the most if the proposed cuts in education go ahead, a rally took place outside two of the 25 schools across Glasgow threatened with closure. Relatives of the pupils affected by the potential closures are occupying St Gregory's and Wyndford primaries in a bid to prevent them being closed. Campaigning parents, local supporters and politicians spoke out against against the attacks on education by the council. The council has already been guilty of closing a lot of schools in recent years and now they are attacking the much needed primaries and nurseries, many of which are in the large Maryhill G20 area of Glasgow. Parents complain that if the council go ahead with their plans, it will rip the heart out of their community. The Wyndford is a densely populated area and local people fear it will become a ghetto without the primary schools. Closing the primaries means that small children will be expected to travel long distances, navigate unsafe roads to an unfamiliar new elementary school and they will have to stump up large sums for bus fares they cannot afford. There is a lot of poverty in Glasgow and Maryhill is one of the poorer areas with one of the lowest life expectancies in Britain. Maryhill needs more, not less resources, yet the most savage cuts have been made in the G20 postcode area which covers Maryhill. As Save Our Schools campaign organiser Richie Venton said: "it is proven that children do better with smaller class sizes. We need cuts in class sizes, not in our children's education." There were also speakers from the church, from the teaching profession, from among the campaigning parents themselves and from political parties. One of the schools threatened with closure is Ruchill which houses an autism unit and as we know, children with autism suffer greatly if they have to make unfamiliar changes in their routine.

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Nonprofits & Activism

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