Education Minister fails to build shared education future

John O’Dowd addressing the Assembly

Today the Education Minister John O’Dowd has named 18 schools that would benefit from the £173m new building fund, but most startling in their omission is the fast growing integrated sector. Is this a failure for a shared education future in Northern Ireland that we are building 18 new segregated schools with the best facilities, while many of our integrated schools are having to squeeze pupils into temporary accommodation.

One of the integrated Primary Schools that is desperately crying out for a new building in Bangor Central Integrated Primary, which is incredibly next to a soon to be vacated site. Due to the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure providing a £15m grant towards the £38m new swimming and leisure complex a large site in Bangor’s central education cluster would have been available if the Department of Education had wanted to step in. However, this site has been sold by North Down Council for private housing development due to inaction by the local education board and successive Education Ministers.

It does seem that the integrated education sector has suffered when it comes to building schemes under the continual reign of Sinn Féin ministers at the Department of Education.

In the 18 schools he has managed to find funding for 3 special needs schools and 2 Irish medium schools, controlled and Catholic primary schools yet failed to fill any of the needs for the integrated schools. It is a glaring omission for one sector to me missed out with 18 projects, especially when that is the one sector that is teaching our children practically to live, learn and play side by side in a shared today not waiting for a future.

It appears that the minster is prepared to talk about a shared future, included future funding for integrated education, but not prepared to fund it today.

DUP First Minister calls to end school apartheid

First Minister Peter Robinson calls for end of "benign form of apartheid"

Yesterday in a speech the Rt Hon. Peter Robinson MLA, Northern Ireland’s First Minister, spoke about the need for to end the “benign apartheid” of the Northern Irish education system. He is advocating setting up a commission to looking at total integration of the different sectors.

There already is a growing integrated sector within the community but the First Minister does not believe this voluntary shift is moving fast enough, with enough ‘critical mass’  to make a real difference.

In calling for a commission to look at change the First Minister does acknowledge there will be difficulties such as religious education, school assembly devotions, the curriculum and that it will not be an overnight achievement.

“It may take ten years or longer to address this problem, which dates back many decades, but the real crime would be to accept the status quo for the sake of a quiet life.

“The benefits of such a system are not merely financial but could play a transformative role in changing society in Northern Ireland.”

Lagan College in 1981 Northern Ireland's first planned integrated secondary school

I’m glad to see the move to integrated education in Northern Ireland being raised at the highest level. When I was going up to secondary school, in 1981, a new project was starting at Lagan College (pictured) a first planned integrated secondary school. Twenty eight pupils that year attended classes in a scout hut. My parents being teachers toyed with the idea of sending me there, but not being certain of the levels of education attainment at that time decided against it.

These days a generation later my nephews attend an integrated primary school and hopefully will move on the integrated secondary.

As Mr Robinson says:

“Future generations will not thank us if we fail to address this issue.”

That is true and I hope that the First Minister will also look at another form of educational apartheid in some of our schools; the failure to acknowledge same-sex relationships in RSE classes (Relationships and Sexuality Education). Also the failure by some to set up homophobic bullying policies. If we’re going for total integration may as well make it do exactly what it says on the tin.