PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY:THE PRESBYTERIAN General Assembly has unanimously passed a series of education motions sharply critical of both the Government and the Stormont Executive.
Meeting in Belfast, the assembly supported a call to “note with concern” recent cuts to the funding for secondary education in the Republic, claiming this was having a “disproportionate effect . . . on many secondary schools under Protestant management”.
The motion called on the Government to “ensure that ongoing policy protects minority rights within the State and secures the future of secondary schools with a Protestant ethos”.
The Rev Trevor Gribben, the assembly’s deputy clerk, said: “The arbitrary removal, without notice in January, of key grants for small schools serving minority communities has caused real hardship. This is simply unacceptable.”
The Rev Daniel Reyes-Martin, minister at Ballyalbany, Co Monaghan, said the removal of all Protestant schools from what he called the “free education system” threatened their viability and meant that Protestant parents would have no option other than to pay high fees.
Cuts would be disproportionately felt in the Protestant sector, he argued. “The recent cuts in funding by the Government is jeopardising the continuation of many [Protestant] schools, especially those in rural areas,” he said.
He said it was important to note that not all Protestant schools were “elitist” and that they serve small communities.
However, the bulk of the education debate focused on Northern schools and in particular on the current unregulated means of transfer from primary to second level.
The Rev Robert Herron, convenor of the church’s education board, warned the assembly that Presbyterians risk marginalisation under Stormont reforms.
“If we do not contest these proposals, [we] will be excluded from all decisions about the future of Northern Ireland’s education system,” he said.
“There are those who say that the churches are part of the problem of Northern Ireland’s divided society therefore the churches should get out of education,” he added.