The Ulster Unionist Party’s Education Spokesperson Danny Kinahan MLA is today hosting an event in Stormont to launch a report into the educational, societal and economic impact of integrated education in Northern Ireland.
Mr Kinahan who is also Vice Chairman of the Education Committee, said;
"Frequent surveys of public opinion tell us that a clear majority of people would like to see children of all faiths eventually being educated together. My Party is clear about our vision for education in Northern Ireland; we would like to see a single, shared system in which children of all faiths and none would be educated together.
Too often our young people progress through the education system with little understanding or knowledge of other cultures and this adds to the division which are apparent within our society. We must address the fact that having a number of different sectors educating individual blocks of our young people is counterproductive to our aim of working towards a shared future. I strongly believe a single education system could significantly alleviate the on-going divisions which unfortunately continue to come to the fore across our communities.
Despite the Programme for Government supporting shared education we have numerous initiatives within present education policy that seem to be moving us in every other direction. The Area Planning process to date is dividing our schools into two distinct sectors whilst virtually ignoring all others. The Education Bill hardly recognises the Integrated sector and does not even give it any representation on the Board of the Education Skills Authority.
The integrated system has played a valuable role over recent years and the evidence that Protestant, Catholic and all other faiths can learn together is clear; that is why I hope today's event will be useful in demonstrating the categorical benefits of educating children in such an environment. It is now time that the Education Department, with the support of the two largest parties moves the issue of a single education system on from party political speeches to actually putting mechanisms in place to begin the transition here."