TWO students began a high court battle against the government yesterday challenging the rise in tuition fees as unlawful as it breaches the equality act.
Sam Jacobs from Public Interest Lawyers, who are representing the students, said: ‘We are challenging the government over the equality act.
‘They are in breach of the duty to have due regard to issues of equality.
‘This means that they are acting unlawfully.
‘If we win this case then Vince Cable will be forced back to the drawing board.’
One of the two students taking the government to court, 17-year-old Callum Hurley, said: ‘Tuition fees are terrible.
‘We are taking the government to court to change their policy on tuition fees.
‘I dislike this government and we have to fight every cut.
‘They deter people who are not very wealthy, including the middle class, from going to university.
‘The plan of tuition fees is to create a two-tier university system, so that only the wealthy can access it.
‘I also think this is part of the destruction of the welfare state.
‘This is the privatisation of universities. The Tories are in the process of privatising everything else.
‘Universities, schools, the NHS, council housing must all remain public property.’
The second student challenging the government in the High Court, Katy Moore, said: ‘We are taking the government to court because we we do not want them to change our society in to one that is based on the wealthy and the elite.
‘We are challenging the government for breaking the equality act.
‘I am in the second year of my college course so I will be the first year to pay the higher fees.
‘During the protests against fees I was kettled loads of times, once for over nine hours.’
Michael Chessun from University College London (UCL), and on the NEC of the National Union of Students (NUS), said: ‘I have to support the legal challenge to tuition fees rises because they will have a disastrous impact on the nature of education and access to it.
‘NUS fully supports the public sector strike on the November 30th and, personally, I will be organising for students to walk out and stand on picket lines with their lecturers.
‘I am also a member of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) and we have called a demonstration for next Wednesday and we are expecting tens of thousands of students.’