The Minister of Education for Northern Ireland, Mr Martin McGuinness, has discussed "a wide range" of school issues at a meeting in Washington with US officials, led by President Clinton's Secretary of Education, Mr Richard Riley.
Mr Riley visited Northern Ireland three times, he noted yesterday. The meeting with Mr McGuinness was part of a series of briefings Mr McGuinness received from senior policy advisers at the US Department of Education.
These included pre-school programmes, educational technology, special education, improving academic achievement in high poverty areas, curriculum reform and school modernisation, the US Department of Education said in a press release.
"The administration has worked very hard to support the people of Northern Ireland in their ongoing efforts to find a lasting peace, and education is critical to this process," Mr Riley said. "We are particularly pleased that the new elected system and government is now up and running."
Mr Riley also referred to Civic Link, a cross-community cross-Border initiative which links 30 schools in Northern Ireland and the Republic to encourage young people to learn how government works.
In his reply, Mr McGuinness noted that over the years he and Mr Gerry Adams had been in constant contact with President Clinton's administration. "I don't look at the labels unionist or nationalist in school affairs. I look at the children. We have much to learn, but we are willing learners," he said.
He said some schools were crumbling and integration of education, now at 3 per cent, might be raised to 10 per cent within a few years.
Mr Riley and Mr McGuinness had a working lunch with senior education department staff to discuss improving academic performance. In the afternoon they visited a high [secondary] school at Burtonsville, Maryland, a school with a special focus on science and the media.