Lesley Macaulay, from the NI Conservatives, has accused the First Minister of “doing nothing to end division in schools”, after Peter Robinson spoke of “educational apartheid” in Northern Ireland, at the TEDx event at Stormont.
“The First Minister has trotted this line out on a few occasions, but he has never backed it up with action”, Lesley said. “It is all very well talking about tackling ‘educational apartheid’ at a feel-good event at Stormont, but Robinson is leading an executive which, out in the real world, is actually entrenching division in schools.”
“Integrated schools, which are actually out there providing shared education, are consistently being denied the funds and new buildings they need to satisfy demand from parents. The sector is not being given a sufficient voice in the bodies which run education. Neither integrated schools not grammars will have significant influence in the single Education and Skills Authority. Most disturbing of all, there is no apparent progress on a robust shared future document, with proper targets and incentives for tackling division in education.”
“Does the First Minister actually support sharing in schools in a meaningful way, or is ‘ending apartheid’ just shorthand for a Protestant politician attacking the Catholic sector? If Peter Robinson’s is genuine then we need to see progress on a shared future, action to restrain the education minister’s attacks on the integrated sector and grammars and some real backing for the parents who are demanding shared education, but being held back by the executive. Otherwise the First Minister’s words are hollow, insincere rhetoric.”