In April Brussels revealed plans to charge British holidaymakers a visa fee for trips to mainland Europe, following the official UK exit from the union and the free movement clause in March 2019. Now educators have raised concerns about the reduction of opportunities for day trips over the channel and the Irish Sea the plans are set to make. Almost a third of secondary school in England travel overseas to Europe every year and now popular locations such as northern France, Belgium, Holland and coastal Irish cities such like Dublin, could become suddenly more pricey options in an already stringent financial climate.
The World War One battlefields of France and the beaches of Normandy, so valued by residents on both sides of the water, are visited by countless pupils every year as part of their studies into the conflict, allowing them to remain a symbol of sacrifice for later generations. Dublin, a city weighted with recent political turmoil, evidence of mass migration, famine and resistance welcomes British pupils from the North of Ireland and the mainland to study history, literature and politics. Holland, sitting closer to the east of England than London in many places, provides a bilingual haven for pupils studying modern languages.
The British Council, which promotes the UK's cultural interests abroad, alongside leading Head Teachers and education unions have composed and signed an open letter calling for these valuable excursions to be exempt from Brexit red-tape. The trips must be allowed to continue in a way which is straightforward, begs the letter and children not made to suffer for political manoeuvring and a vote in which they had no part. Thousands of trips and exchanges could struggle to go ahead or be entirely discouraged if every pupil is required to apply for a visa, even for a one day trip. The letter states that as Brexit approaches it is "important that the prospects and opportunities for school pupils in the UK are not reduced".
