The Conservative Party’s prospective Westminster candidate in Strangford, Johnny Andrews, has slammed parties at Stormont for ‘circling sectarian wagons’ in defence of segregated teacher training. Education and Learning Minister, Stephen Farry, was forced to reinstate a small institution ‘premia’, paid to the colleges at St Mary’s and Stranmillis, after his Executive colleagues vetoed a plan to end the subsidy.
“It’s been blatantly obvious for many years, that Northern Ireland cannot keep paying through the nose to sustain segregated teacher training”, Johnny commented. “Nor should students, who hope to teach the next generation of young people in Northern Ireland, be divided and trained along sectarian lines. It’s expensive, it’s bad for society and it produces far too many teachers, a large proportion of whom have very little chance of finding a job.”
“When it was proposed that these ‘premia’, which are artificially sustaining segregation, be abolished, the old tribal politics kicked in. You would expect little better from Sinn Féin and the DUP, but it’s clear that the Ulster Unionists and SDLP are equally as bad, in this instance. The UUP, in particular, has been all over the place, welcoming the premia’s reinstatement, evading the issue of amalgamating Stranmillis and St Mary’s, yet trying to portray itself as moderate at the same time.”
“The UUP and SDLP leaderships play at opposing division, when it suits them, yet always swing back into tribal mode when party politics demand. Ulster Unionist strategists have constantly tried to delay, prevaricate and fudge their position on integrating teacher training. The arguments are quite clear. Northern Ireland is too small to sustain multiple teacher training colleges. In addition, separating students on the basis of religion perpetuates division in our society. Stranmillis and St Mary’s must be amalgamated and the Executive parties should be doing everything in their power to bring about this merger, including ending premia payments which artificially sustain segregation.”