Allister renews call to dump ESA
19 November 2009
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister QC:-
“If the DUP is having second thoughts about the Education & Skills Authority (ESA), that is good, though belated.
I have long warned about the dangers and agenda of centralist control, of everything from curriculum to school management, which will flow from ESA. It is an essential part of the Minister’s destructive agenda for our education system.
The controlled sector is particularly at risk. What has happened to Parkhall School in Antrim is a case in point. It has been manoeuvred, without adequate parental consent, into “controlled integrated status”, thereby robbing Antrim of its sole state secondary school. Under its new integrated status the Roman Catholic Church will be invited to nominate two governors and the curriculum will be adjusted to encompass gaelic culture, and all this despite the revelation that the Catholic enrolment requirement necessary for integrated status HAS NOT BEEN ATTAINED. Figures just released show that the Roman Catholic component of enrolment in the school this year, 2009/10, is only 2.2%, with under 5 Catholics in the year 8 intake*. The fact that integrated ethos and status has been imposed and approved by Ruane, though her own Department’s requirement for 10% of the new intake from the minority tradition has not been met, shows her agenda to destroy state schools in action.
There is an unfolding disadvantage to Protestant children in Northern Ireland. Only State schools give up their controlled status, Roman Catholic schools never evolve in that direction, but courtesy of pushing integrated status the ethos of State education is being transformed. Hence, the state sector is diminishing. With increased centralised control under ESA we can expect this to accelerate.
I am, therefore, calling on the DUP to not just delay the legislation establishing ESA, but to block it altogether, in keeping with its original opposition to such a body. The waste associated with this change is another disturbing factor. ESA’s Chief Executive designate has for at least a year been on the public pay roll at a salary rumoured to be in 6 figures! There can be no justification for this.
Education is in enough chaos without the malevolent control freakery which ESA will bring. Just as the 11 Plus should not have been removed until there was something better to put in its place, so the present ELBs should stay until there is something workable and better to replace them. ESA certainly is not a suitable replacement.
With education in a state of flux, I am also calling on the Department to clarify if its Permanent Secretary, Will Haire, is leaving his post?”
* Dept refusing to say how many, only says “under 5”, but clearly less than the required 10%.
