SCORES OF schools in the North face closure or merger under proposals by the Sinn Féin Minister for Education, John O’Dowd. Plans to build up to 52 schools may also be abandoned.
He yesterday instructed the management of the North’s 1,080 primary and second-level schools to carry out “immediate viability” audits which will be crucial in determining the future of many schools in Northern Ireland.
Asked would Mr O’Dowd’s “vision” for education mean school closures, a senior official said: “The Minister is not afraid to make hard decisions.”
In the Stormont Assembly where Mr O’Dowd outlined his plans for “sustainable schools”, the Minister added: “Education will change from this moment on.”
Mr O’Dowd did not spell out in detail how many schools would close, what new building plans would be abandoned or how many teachers could lose their jobs but did make clear that because of under-enrolment and the resultant 85,000 effective empty desks, the current situation was not viable.
“We have too many schools that do not have the capacity to give children the broad and rich educational experience they deserve. Schools which, in some cases, have lost the confidence of the parents, pupils and communities they were built to serve,” he said.
“Our latest enrolment figures show that our schools have almost 85,000 spare places – that is the equivalent of more than 150 schools. A third of our primary schools have fewer than 100 children enrolled and a fifth of our 217 post-primary schools have fewer than 400 pupils.”
The Minister did not make clear whether his planned radical overhaul of the schools system would have implications for the Catholic schools sector, but it seems likely to raise questions in certain areas about possible mergers of Catholic and state schools.
“I am asking the managing authorities to conduct an immediate viability audit to identify clearly those schools which are evidencing stress now in remaining educationally viable. Key criteria will be enrolments, standards and financial viability,” said Mr O’Dowd.
He said that while he was focusing on “schools that are too small or too empty”, there were popular, over-subscribed schools which could be allowed to grow further.
The Minister wants responses from school management boards by the end of December. He then plans to adopt a “comprehensive strategic approach” to begin the educational revamp.
Education officials said initial key strategic decisions are due to be made by the Minister by June next year.
His proposals will also have major implications for existing planned capital projects. At present there are proposals to rebuild 52 schools at a cost of some £500 million, while there are an additional 100 planned capital projects costing several million pounds.
“I need to be assured that these projects are consistent with the overall plans for the area they are situated in,” said Mr O’Dowd.
Again, the Minister did not specify what projects would fail to be realised but based on the current capital budget for the department over the next four years it could mean the majority of these projects.
The department had envisaged receiving a capital budget of £1.165 billion for the next four years, according to officials, but instead is being allocated £509 million. The shortfall is £656 million, which is close to the sum required to cover the capital projects.
Mr O’Dowd said he wanted to ensure that “limited resources are being invested in the highest-priority projects, which will ensure we are building the right type of schools in the right place and of the right size to meet the future needs of children and young people”.
