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3rd march: sixth formers use direct action against IT cuts
Over fifty sixth form students at Riverside College, Runcorn, reacted against the removal of IT facilities at their college and the atmosphere of secrecy in which the ill-devised asset-strip was carried out. Just weeks before AS and A Level examinations were to commence, students were told that computers were to be removed from one sixth form building, supposedly to be installed in the next door building, both of which once were separate colleges, forced to merge due to restructuring by the Labour council. This amalgamation came about against the better judgement of staff, students and parents.

This removal of IT equipment, it was discovered, was part of a broader scheme of reducing facilities along the lines of the unpopular amalgamation of schools and sixth forms in the area. Furthermore, it took place without consultation with students or many of the staff.

Students circulated a petition calling for the removal to be halted, and on the day that the computers were due to be moved a small spontaneous protest by some students broke out. The protest quickly escalated with more and more students joining in, and the creation of a barricade made of chairs to prevent the removal of the computers.

Senior members of staff were drafted in to diffuse the situation in which the removal of IT equipment was just the tip of the iceberg in a sea of much deeper discontent about management of the college. Eventually students agreed to desist on the insistence that a much closer dialogue between senior staff and students would be formed in the future. Another victory due to well-executed direct action...!
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