P-04-660 Additional Pressures on Funding for Education Provision Faced by Sparsely Populated Areas
P-04-660 Additional Pressures on Funding for Education Provision Faced by Sparsely Populated Areas
This
petition was submitted by Save Powys Schools, having collected 1,049
signatures.
Text of Petition
We,
the undersigned, call upon the Welsh Government to recognize the financial
challenges of providing an appropriate level of educational provision in
sparsely populated rural areas. Spending cuts are adversely affecting school
communities to the extent that children are leaving their county of residence
(and increasingly, in border counties, such as Powys, leaving Wales) in order
to continue their education. Schools and sixth forms are at breaking point,
exhausted by continual threat of closure. Our children are forced to travel
unsustainable distances on minor roads, breaking up friendship groups and
adding up to two hours to the school day. Nursery education is now also under
threat, and with continuous cuts to school budgets causing round after round of
redundancies, it is impossible to deliver the quality of education that
teachers trained for and that our young people deserve. We urge the Welsh Government
to immediately investigate the additional challenges to education in sparsely
populated rural areas, and to increase the funding to areas such as Powys
accordingly. The loss of our schools heralds the death of our communities and
our local economies. If a devolved Wales is to thrive, we need our Government
to lead the funding discussions in Westminster. We need you on our side!
Business type: Petition
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Status: For consideration
First published: 02/12/2015