Call coincides with PS leader’s accusations that government has increased costs of higher education
Well over a thousand students have gathered today in Lisbon’s Rossio square to take part in a national demonstration calling for an end to tuition fees, and more funding generally for higher education.
The action coincides with accusations levelled against the government by PS secretary-general Pedro Nuno Santos, who says social democrats are increasing the costs of higher education as other European countries do the exact opposite.
For students, the problem with this country’s tuition fees is that they prompt many to abandon their studies, because they simply cannot afford the luxury of continuing with them: high accommodation costs are another obstacle.
Shouting slogans and waving red carnations, the students’ message is that they want to return to the spirit of the 1974 revolution, which was meant to ‘open the world’ to young Portuguese, who instead are increasingly finding it close-up against them. ND
