Nicola Grant Workers Party Representative Comments on the Party Response to the Integrated Education Strategy Consultation.
The Workers Party has made a detailed response to the consultation. Ms Grant noted that more than 90% of schools in Northern Ireland are segregated on religious grounds, operating with de facto parallel systems for Catholics and Protestants. Less than 2% of pupils who identify as Protestant currently attend a Catholic school, with less than 9% of pupils that identify as Catholic attending controlled schools and 30% of schools having no pupils from the ‘other’ community.
No more than 8% of pupils here are educated in integrated schools despite decades of opinion polls showing consistently huge majorities of people in favour of integrated education. As a secular, socialist anti-sectarian party, the Workers Party is clear that the main political parties in NI have conspired over the past 25 years to maintain an education system which promotes the sectarian division that enables sectarian politics to thrive in Stormont and on the streets of Northern Ireland, where geographical divisions based on background are as bad as ever.
The 2022 Integrated Education Act represented a step change, but integrated education is still at a disadvantage. Demand outstrips supply, integrated schools remain reliant on charitable funding. While changing to integrated status requires a grassroots campaign from local parents.
Since 2019, there have been 26 parental ballots in schools seeking to pivot to integrated status that returned a ‘yes’ response. The average yes response was 91%, yet, opponents claim that there is not sufficient evidence of demand. Education continues to be an under-utilised tool in peace and reconciliation. It is no panacea to all the ills and traumas that foment in a post-conflict society, but it is a foundation from which community cohesion may grow.
Rather than have young people divided into opposing educational sectors that are dominated by religious and political identities, Northern Ireland should have primary education system that is comprehensive, integrated and secular as the norm. Ms Grant finished by saying, this is only a few short paragraphs of the Workers Party response. The entire submission can be read on our website at workersparty.net