News
10th March 09
3/10/2009
Ulster Unionist MLA, Tom Elliott, has hit out at Minister for Education, Caitriona Ruane, after a number of parents of P6 pupils contacted him in anger when they received a letter from the Minister regarding future education provision for their children.
Letter from Minister Ruane won’t bring peace to parents – Elliott
Ulster Unionist MLA, Tom Elliott, has hit out at Minister for Education, Caitriona Ruane, after a number of parents of P6 pupils contacted him in anger when they received a letter from the Minister regarding future education provision for their children. Mr Elliott, who is a member of the Assembly Education Committee and a strong critic of the Minister, said that far from reassuring parents about the future the letters only served to increase their frustration and anxiety about the type of education service that will be available in the coming years.
In a statement, the Fermanagh and South Tyrone representative said: “I have been contacted by a number of parents who have received letters from Minister Ruane, seeking to provide them with what she must believe is adequate guidance on the future of education provision here. However, in reality these letters are nothing more than a continuation of the same ‘waffle’ we hear from the Minister at the assembly. She has single-handedly managed to undermine years of excellent educational achievement by continuously downplaying the fantastic results enjoyed by pupils in Northern Ireland and has adopted a policy of anarchy and mayhem, leaving parents across the country with no idea about what’s happening now or in the future. It is an absolutely ridiculous situation which should never have been allowed to evolve but sadly, despite losing all the confidence of the community and probably a significant amount of support within her own party, the Minister continues on her path of destruction.”
“The parents who contacted my office about this matter were understandably very angry and disillusioned with the Minister. The letter issued was never going to be enough to provide the necessary guidance that parents across Northern Ireland are crying out for. Of course, there will be people who will say that I am simply a Unionist taking a pop at Sinn Fein. But in truth, many from the Nationalist community do not support the stance taken by the Minister in allowing our education system to sink into chaos.”
“To add insult to injury, the Minister put a large section of the letter in Irish. Obviously this was designed to provoke and annoy many of those who would be reading it from the Unionist/Protestant community.”
“Minister Ruane is fast becoming a laughing stock across the community. However, the sad reality is that what she is doing with our education system is no joke. No amount of letters can replace proper leadership and Minister Ruane would do well to accept her responsibilities and work to restore faith in her ability, rather than sending out letters which only makes parents more confused and angry.”
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