Pupils advocate benefit changes

Press, 4 March 1988, Page 1

Pupils advocate benefit changes

IJ' I ■ ! PA i j Wellington Post-primary pupils have told the Royal Commission on Social Policy that (they believe people Sunder, 18 on unemployment benefit should receive less,! and the tertiary bursary should | be increased. Seven senior pupils from in Central Otago, Nelson | and Palmerston North made ) submissions dealing with work .and employment, and all complained about the difference between the tertiary bursary and the unemployment benefit.' “It is pathetic I to pay polytech students $4l a week, while | people doing nothing and staying at home earn $99 on the dole,”! said one,

Palmerston North pupil. “If you cut the dole for 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds to $7O or $BO, you could give the remaining balance to tertiary students.” Another pupil from Geraldine said she would have to pay $129 |a week to live in a hall of residence at Otago University next year. Her grants totalled $78.50 while a close friend I on the dole received almost twice as much. i Four of the pupils said the unemployment benefit for younger people should be reduced. | | ■“At the moment you are paid more, for slacking about than working your butt off,” one pupil said.