Rural students' transport woes 'disrupt education'

Sixth form students who live in rural areas fear their exam grades will be affected because of poor public transport links

Rural sixth form students have complained a lack of public transport is threatening their education because getting to college is difficult.

The concerns were raised after Julia Buckley, MP for Shrewsbury, discussed the issue in Parliament and called for funding rule changes to allow more rural colleges to offer travel bursaries.

Abbey, a 17-year-old student from Welshpool, who is among 10,000 taking courses with the Shrewsbury Colleges Group, said she had considered dropping out because of unreliable trains. Another student, George, said he arrives two or three hours early to make lessons.

West Midlands Railway and Transport for Wales said they were looking to improve their performances.

James Staniforth, Shrewsbury College Group principal, said he was seeing the number of students grow.

However, because his college offered both A-level and further education (FE) courses, it missed out on some government money available to colleges that offer one or the other.

Buckley said this "anomaly" was especially a problem for rural institutions, which combined the two types of courses.

The Labour MP said that was because "smaller schools have closed down their sixth forms, leading to a centralisation in the county".

Julia Buckley MP has called for more support to help rural students get to their lessons

James Staniforth said Shrewsbury Colleges Group missed out on government bursary funding

Shrewsbury Colleges Group takes students from all over Shropshire, as well as Wales, Herefordshire and Birmingham.

Abbey said trains from her home in Welshpool were often delayed or cancelled and as a result she had missed out on "quite a bit of learning".

"I've considered dropping out of college because it's so hard to get in sometimes," she said.

Many others in Welshpool she knows "have just given up on college" because of rural transport issues.

"I came to college to learn and it's hard not to be able to get in, to get higher education just because of transport," she added.

And George, 17, said his trains from Craven Arms were also "quite unreliable" and he found he could not arrive to lessons on time.

The only alternative, he said, was "to arrive two or three hours early for an hour-and-a-half lesson".

He said he was worried his grades would suffer because of difficulties getting to Shrewsbury.

Abbey said trains from Welshpool were often delayed or cancelled

'Poverty of opportunity'

Buckley said there were "geographical barriers" for rural students aged 16 to 18, who face limited railway access while the number of bus services is in decline.

As a result, she said there was "poverty of opportunity, where young people reduce their aspirations to match their transport options".

Education minister Stephen Morgan, responded to questions raised during the parliamentary debate on rural education.

He promised the government would "ensure that everyone can access education and training opportunities".

But he said local authorities had the statutory responsibility for providing transport to education and training establishments.

West Midlands Railway said it recognised "the vital role public transport plays in rural communities" and was committed to improving its performance.

It said services had been affected by strikes, flooding and a major landslide, but it was "determined to rebuild the confidence" of rail users.

The company pointed to more trains on the Birmingham to Shrewsbury line and said it was "working closely with Julia Buckley MP and other local stakeholders" to improve public transport in Shropshire.

Transport for Wales said it was working to "improve reliability and punctuality on the Marches Line" and met regularly with higher education providers to get feedback.

As more of its fleet of new trains come into service, "capacity, reliability and punctuality will continue to improve", it added.