HUNDREDS of youngsters from sixth forms in the borough downed pens and walked out of lessons this morning as part of the protests over tuition fee increases.

Pupils of Woodhouse College, Barnet College, St Michael's and Finchley Catholic High Schools then converged on Tally Ho Corner before heading to central London to join the wider protests.

They are angry at what they see as a “betrayal” by Lib Dem politicians increasing tuition fees and planned changes to the education maintenance allowance (EMA) given to the poorest students.

Several of the protesters risked losing this week's instalment of the payment by being marked as absent from classes to attend the march.

The walkout follows a march by dozens of sixth formers last week who converged on MP Mike Freer's offices in Finchley to show their dissatisfaction at what is happening.

Tom Gill, 17, who organised today's action, said he was “pleased” by the response of his fellow pupils at Woodhouse College.

He said: “I'm glad they realise they have to act now to protect their future. It's not right students should be saddled with big debts when most of our politicians had their educations for free.

“Hopefully the college will get the message they need to get behind us as these changes will affect them as well.

“I feel it's our responsibility to do something about this now. It's good people are risking their EMA as they realise this is their last chance and in future they may not get it at all.”

Another protester, Michael Franks, 17, said he and many others felt let down by the move and said it had changed his plans.

He said: “I was planning on taking a gap year, but if I do I will be hit by the higher fees. It's not right they are privatising education like this. It will become only for the rich.

“What good is it for graduates to end up in more debt and not be able to afford to pay their fees? That won't help the economy in the long term.”

Woodhouse College vice principal John Rubinstein said they did not condone the student's actions and added there were no lessons this afternoon.

He said: “There's not been a demonstration such as this for many years now. It's only about 100 of our 1,100 students taking part, so it shouldn't cause too much disruption.”