New Zealand cutting student allowances for mature students.

As reported here, the NZ government has reduced student allowances for tertiary study for the over-40s to a maximum of three years, with people over 65 no longer eligible at all for student allowances. Given how much re-skilling is already needed and will continue to be needed as economies and industries shift, this doesn’t appear to be a very positive move on the part of NZ government. Wouldn’t you rather be paying people to study so they can continue to work, rather than paying unemployment benefits?

I’ll try to keep abreast of this but, given the supposed focus on life-long learning we’re all interested in, this does seem out of step.