A Level students in Cornwall are forced to travel a whopping two hours a day to study after courses were axed
STUDENTS are travelling up two hours a day for lessons – as their town doesn’t provide A-Levels.
Families could end up paying hundreds of pounds each year to transport their kids for courses.
Ministers have been told its “unacceptable” that a town in Cornwall with a population of 20,000 people now has no A-Level provision.
Potential students are being put off from carrying on their studies due to the added burden, Tory MP Steve Double has revealed.
Pupils in his St Austell constituency are having to travel to Truro for a choice of 39 different A-Levels taking over an hour by public transport.
They could also travel 15 miles to Bodmin taking 35 minutes by bus for a choice of 29 A-Levels.
Payment must be made for the first £500 of travel costs but costs can be off-set with some bursary funding.
Education Minister Michelle Donelan revealed this week that only around 100 pupils were studying 13 A-Level subjects in the town before they were axed.
She added the decision to drop A-Levels was against the backdrop that the college providing courses had been “struggling financially for some time and was unable to rectify the situation”.
Pupils aged 16 or over can still learn courses in the town including bricklaying, engineering and hospitality.
Tory MP Steve Double said: “It cannot be an acceptable situation that Cornwall’s largest town is left without A Level courses.
“Many potential students may be put off doing A-levels if they face a commute of perhaps an hour at the beginning and end of each day.
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“The loss of the A-level courses will be detrimental to social mobility for the young people of St Austell.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Further education is at the heart of the Government’s plans, and we want to make sure there is high quality provision for all pupils.”
They added that pupils could travel to a college in Bodmin that is “significantly” less than an hour away.
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