LABOUR Assembly Member, Joyce Watson, has spoken up for the importance of further education in Wales.
Speaking to a rally on the funding of further education in Wales, Joyce got a rousing reception as she told how important her local FE college was in her journey to become an Assembly Member.
The AM for Mid and West Wales told how, having been forced to leave school early through illness, she returned to Pembrokeshire College as a young mum, getting the A levels which led to her degree, and led her into public life. She now offers a second chance bursary at Pembrokeshire College to help someone else get the same second chance she had.
Around 300 lecturers and students from around Wales gathered on the steps outside the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff Bay on Wednesday (01.04.2009) to protest against funding cuts to further education colleges.
Joyce said that she had spoken to Deputy Minister John Griffiths about the funding crisis in Welsh further education and asked him to urgently review the Assembly’s allocation of funding.
She said that funding had been allocated and decisions had been arrived at under very different circumstances to those currently facing the sector. Mr Griffiths gave his assurances that he would consider a review.
Joyce said: "I was pleased the minister was so open to finding a way forward through this difficult situation.
"The current fragile economy will probably increase the need for further education training, not decrease it, and I am proud to be a member of a Labour party which has always invested in our young people’s futures."
"Through schemes like ProAct and ReAct, the Assembly Government is investing in retraining people and upgrading Wales’ skills base, and the FE sector must be supported so that it can deliver these schemes effectively."
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