Alliance candidate in North Belfast Marjorie Hawkins today called for the right to integrated education to be enshrined in law.
The Belfast-Castle local government candidate stated: “Surveys show that over 80% of parents would consider integrated education at secondary level, yet only 5% of schools are integrated.
“But the issue goes further than that. The right to integrated education must be enshrined in law. The perverse policy of protecting a segregated education, thereby promoting a segregated and confrontational society, must be immediately overturned.
“As a liberal party we wish to maintain parental choice in education where possible. However, the default choice must be integrated, not segregated. It is outrageous that parents in a recent case in Ballycastle had to seek funding from Australia just to set up an integrated school! Alliance will stand up for those and other parents’ rights. We present to the electorate a vision of a future where integration is natural and where policy is directed towards genuine need rather than maintaining artificial and damaging divisions.”
ENDS
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