by Lamiat Sabin, in Camberwell

AROUND 100 people rallied outside a south London college yesterday against the closure of a campus lauded as a lifeline for local communities.

Lewisham Southwark College (Lesoco) is set to shut its Camberwell campus in July due to government funding cuts and most students will be unable to continue their studies in the autumn.

Up to 200 staff will be axed at the college’s five campuses.

Students cannot transfer to sites in Deptford, Waterloo and Lewisham due to lack of space and funding. 

The Con-Dem coalition said last month that it had slashed the adult skills budget for 2015-16 by a quarter.

“By 2020, if the next government continues to cut at this rate, adult further education will be effectively a thing of the past,” said Association of Colleges chief executive Martin Doel.

“This situation is now urgent. This could be the end of this essential education in every city, town and community in England and the consequences will be felt by individuals and the economy for years to come.”

The main modules taught at the Camberwell site include English speaking and literacy. Courses with basic skills in IT and mathematics are also in high demand.

Many of the students are young mothers who have to fit in their studies between leaving the house at the crack of dawn for cleaning jobs and looking after their children.

For the majority, English is their second or third language.

The closure of the school will deprive them of future opportunities, said a teacher who did not want to be named, especially when staff numbers will be cut by the hundreds across all five sites.

Lesoco at Camberwell is the only adult college teaching basic skills to the largest South American and West African communities in Britain, said the lecturer in English for speakers of other languages.

She added that the closure was probably due to the college focusing resources on redevelopment at the Waterloo campus — dubbed a “money pit” by campaigners.Lesoco was rated “inadequate” in its last two Ofsted reports.