News
1st July 10
7/1/2010
Tom Elliott, Ulster Unionist MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, has questioned the level of spend on Irish Medium schools as funding starts to tighten across the education sector.
Tom Elliott, Ulster Unionist MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, has questioned the level of spend on Irish Medium schools as funding starts to tighten across the education sector.
In a statement Mr. Elliott said: "On the day that the Minister announced the outcome of her capital spending review and the cancellation of a number of - as yet unidentified - school building projects, it has been brought to my attention that the Minister has increased her capital budget for Irish Medium Schools five-fold in the last three years.
"Whilst I respect the right of parents to educate their children in Irish, we are entering into a period of inevitable rationalisation in the education sector. We are going to have to find innovative ways to condense the school estate. However, in the midst of this reality we are developing small and costly Irish Medium schools.
"On average pupils in Irish Medium schools receive £460 more a year than those in mainstream schools. The Ulster Unionist Party believes that the best and most efficient way for children to receive an Irish Medium education is to do so in an Irish Medium unit attached to a mainstream school.
"At one end of our education system we are trying to rationalise through the Entitlement Framework and Area Based planning, whilst at the same time we are developing small and relatively costly schools - at a time when we need to prioritise value for money this does not make sense."
Back to other news articles...
