Department of Education Wasted £2 Million
20 January 2009
Traditional Unionist Jim Allister has revealed the cost of pupil profiling. The MEP has seen documentation obtained through the Freedom of Information Act which stated that the total cost of profiling was more than two million pounds.“When plans to introduce a system of pupil profiling across Northern Ireland’s schools were cancelled by the Department of Education in December I stated that a number of key questions demanded answers. First and foremost, how much did it cost the tax payer? I am now in a position to provide a definitive answer. I am sure people across the Province will be shocked to learn that over two million pounds was squandered by the Department on this.
“However, the second issue which I raised remains. The man responsible for pushing pupil profiling, which was always deeply unpopular with parents, Gavin Boyd still appears set to head up the new Education and Skills Authority which was supported by the DUP in the Assembly. It appears to me that he is manifestly unsuited for this task.
“I would repeat my call for the scrapping of the Revised Curriculum, not just pupil profiling. It is fundamentally anti-selection and robs Northern Ireland’s children of a grounding in the fundamentals of literacy and numeracy.”
Note to editors: The total cost of Pupil Profiling was £2,022233
