London high school students participated in a walk-out Wednesday afternoon at Victoria Park to protest OSAP cuts.
OSAP grants will decrease starting this fall. It will impact high school students as well as post-secondary students.
SAVE OSAP WALKOUT at Victoria Park (Credit: Adam Duffy/XFM News)
“I’m now planning to go to Westford or somewhere that I can still live at home rather than going to a university where I’m going to have to pay for residence because of how expensive it is,” said Madeline Glinoga, London Central Secondary School grade 12 student and organizer of the walk-out.
London Central Secondary School grade 12 student Madeline Glinoga (Credit: Emily Kim/XFM News)
She said she still has the opportunity to attend university but the options are limited.
Families as a whole are struggling, said Calico Richard, another grade 12 student and organizer from London Central Secondary School.
“Not only for me, for my sister, she goes to Waterloo, she’s doing theoretical physics. And she’s already signed up at Waterloo and now she’s going to struggle because of this,” Richard said.
Numerous students participated in the walk-out even though pants and shoes got wet in the rainy weather.
Glinoga said she was really happy that so many students came out.
“I did a Google form trying to survey how many people from my high school were going to be showing up but the turnout was actually much higher than I expected. So that was really great and I’m so happy that it went so well.”
London Central Secondary School grade 12 student Calico Richard (Credit: Emily Kim/XFM News)
H.B. Beal Secondary School grade 12 Rinn Jennings wore a simple red felt square on the chest.
“I feel incredibly proud of everyone that came out today to support this movement. And I’m just so overjoyed that this turned out so well.”
The red square (Credit: Emily Kim/XFM News)
The red square is a symbol from the 2012 Quebec protests where the government raised tuition which was protested by students.
“We’re taking that symbol from that movement and continuing it on to show that we’re still squarely in the red, we’re still trapped in this debt, and the fight for affordable education isn’t over yet,” Jennings added.
This walk-out was led by high school students but also involved many guest speakers, including city councillors.
“I don’t think they’ve realized, or maybe they have realized, how detrimental this is, not just to students and their families, but to broader communities,” said Sam Trosow, Ward 6 Councillor.
Ward 6 Councillor Sam Trosow (Credit: Emily Kim/XFM News)
He also said he wants the government to rescind their reallocation between grants and loans.
Everyone who participated in this walk-out, regardless of whether they were speakers or students, demanded the government change its decision.
“I want to stop with these high amounts of loans. We need to go back to the way it was where it’s mostly grants because this is how it needs to be for people to be able to afford education to afford to even go to university,” said Richard.
Trosow added the government should listen to students first.
“Students are making it very clear that they want to be able to contribute to society, but they need a higher education to be able to do that,” said Trosow.
The students continued to chant in the rain to make sure their voices are heard.
