Akhir 23, 1432 / March 28, 2011, SPA -- The government said on Monday 180 million pounds of bursaries would replace school attendance payments whose scrapping prompted many pupils to join violent student demonstrations in London late last year, according to Reuters. Education Secretary Michael Gove said the money would be available for the poorest students aged between 16 and 19 to pay for transport, food or equipment. His decision to end Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) payments in England last October angered many school pupils who marched alongside students protesting against higher university fees. Critics had feared a much lower level of replacement funding and welcomed the announcement but said many pupils would still drop out of education. The opposition Labour party said Gove had taken a successful policy and turned it into a "total shambles". The EMA programme gives 600,000 teenagers up to 30 pounds a week to encourage them to stay at school. Gove said the 560 million pound a year scheme was wasteful, citing research showing that 90 percent of those receiving EMA payments would have carried on their education without it. He said the new bursaries would be distributed by college and school authorities as they saw fit. The most vulnerable 12,000 students -- those in care, on income support payments or severely disabled -- will recieve guaranteed bursaries of 1,200 pounds a year. Students currently receiving EMA payments will continue to receive them till the end of the next academic year, although they will be at a reduced level for many.
