Danish students join European protests against education cuts

Thousands of young Danes took to the streets on Wednesday to protest over a government plan to cut student allowances, adding to a wave of European youth anger.

Under the banner “Enough is Enough”, 11 high school and university student associations marched from Copenhagen’s City Hall Square to parliament over the proposed cuts to free up funds for defence spending.

Student protests that started in France have spread in recent weeks to other European countries. Some 400 00 students were on strike at 57 schools across Denmark, including 12 000-13 000 at the protest in Copenhagen, according to organisers.

Copenhagen police were out in force during the demonstration which unfolded in a peaceful atmosphere under sunny autumn skies.

Thousands face changes to student support

Thousands of young people chanted “Broken Promises” and carried signs reading “Save SU”, the Danish acronym for the student allowance, “Less Support, Less Educated” and “Don’t Cheat the Young”.

“In Denmark, we get funding and economic support for getting an education, and we’re very proud of this,” said one protest organiser, Danish High School Students’ Association president Oscar Tonsberg Hoffmann.

He told AFP that it would be wrong to dismantle “one of the world’s strongest educational systems”.

In a draft budget bill, Denmark’s centre-left government plans to abolish the SU allowance for students who live with their parents and whose parents’ total annual income exceeds 700 000 Danish kroner ($104 440).

The amount students receive would be progressive for all students whose parents earn between 419 589 kroner and 700 000 kroner a year.

The SU has until now been given to all students over the age of 18, which means high school and university students receive it.

Kieran Hindshaw, a 23-year-old agronomy student, said he felt betrayed by the government.

“I’m infuriated that we finally get a supposedly ‘red’ government in Denmark that includes the left parties, and anyway we get cuts to our welfare and to the economies of young people whilst they’re funding corporate tax reductions and warfare,” he told AFP.

“I hope they will look at this demonstration and change their mind.”

According to the Higher Education Ministry, around 14 000 students are expected to lose their grant, and some 8 000 would see it reduced.

In force since 1970, SU is one of the cornerstones of Denmark’s egalitarian university system, enabling all young people to get an education regardless of their parents’ income.

The amount students currently receive is 1,154 kroner ($173) a month for those who live with their parents, and 7 426 kroner ($1 111) for those who live on their own.

‘A helping hand’

The government has also proposed that unemployment benefits for recent university graduates be paid only to those who have worked during 18 of the last 24 months of their studies.

Dagmar Demuth, a high school student attending the protest, said the SU made it easier for students to make ends meet.

“It’s important when you are in school and trying to educate yourself. It’s hard to have to pay for yourself, so sometimes it’s nice to have a little helping hand with the SU,” she told AFP.

Tonsberg Hoffmann of the student association said high school organisations have tried to have a dialogue with the government, but without success.

Within the government, the Socialist People’s Party and the Social Liberal Party had opposed education cuts but have nonetheless defended the proposal.

Interior and Economic Affairs Minister Pia Olsen Dyhr has in particular had to explain herself, as she had vowed that her Socialist People’s Party would not touch the student grant system.

“It’s no secret that this is not an initiative that comes from us. But we have made compromises in this government, and I fully stand by them,” she said.

Industry Minister and Social Liberal Party leader Martin Lidegaard has meanwhile said that the cuts “are not pleasant decisions. This is economically responsible policy.”