Protesters are at the House of Commons to urge the government to rethink the scrapping of the Education Maintenance Allowance

Teenagers have taken to the streets against coalition education reforms again today – this time to demonstrate against the abolition of a grant to help students from disadvantaged families who want to stay on at school.

Campaigners have organised a series of protests against the scrapping of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), including lobbying in the House of Commons this afternoon and a demonstration outside parliament this morning. Teenagers from two London colleges are holding politics lessons in one of parliament’s committee rooms.

It comes as MPs prepare to vote on a motion, called by Labour, which calls on the government to “rethink” its plans to abolish EMA. The allowance is a weekly payment for 16- to 18-year-olds whose household income is under £30,800, to encourage them to stay in education. It has already been closed to new applicants.

Critics argue that abolishing EMA will lead to thousands of teenagers giving up on their studies, but the coalition said the grant made little difference to whether they remained in education.

Young people were travelling to London for the protests from as far afield as Sunderland and Cornwall. By 10am this morning, about 30 teenagers had already gathered outside Westminster tube station to hand commuters biscuits with “Save EMA” stamped in icing sugar on them.

Sabrina Abdalla, 17, was one of them.

“The EMA stops my mum from worrying about my education and leaves her to worry about our rent and food,” she said.

Sabrina receives £30 a week, which she uses to travel from Hackney to college in Hammersmith every day. She is one of five children and only her dad, a minicab driver, works.

“I would have had to get a part-time job if I hadn’t had the EMA, and I wouldn’t have been able to focus on my education in the same way,” she said.

At her college, William Morrris sixth form, 600 out of 800 pupils are on the EMA.

Nick De Souza, head of Sabrina’s year group, said teenagers told him they had to move in with their grandparents because there was no longer any room at home.

“Some of our students really struggle financially. Without the EMA, some would not continue their education. Politicians have to vote with their heads and hearts on this, not just do what they are told.”

A year ago, half a mile from Sabrina’s college, David Cameron promised that, if the Conservatives were in power, he would not scrap the EMA.

Samira Dage, 16, receives a £20 a week in EMA and uses the money to buy fiction books. Reading widely will help do well in her English literature A-level, she said. She has just bought Lolita by Nabokov. She thinks it unlikely that the government will reverse its decision to abolish the benefit “but maybe the next one will”, she said.

“It’s not true to say that many teenagers would stay in education regardless of whether they received the EMA,” Samira said

Raja Chander, 16, added: “Many of my friends on the EMA would not have stayed in college. Ditching the EMA will widen the gap between the rich and poor.”

James Mills, head of the Save EMA campaign, said teenagers will keep up the pressure. “Getting the vote tabled today is a major achievement, let’s hope more is possible.”

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