A new organisation in Northern Ireland will campaign to abolish “historical division in education and push for an inclusive system”.
The Coalition for Inclusive Education says it wants all state-funded schools to have an inclusive ethos and be open to all pupils, staff and parents from all backgrounds, whatever their religion or beliefs.
Led by Northern Ireland Humanists, other founding members include the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE), the Northern Ireland Inter-Faith Forum, Belfast Islamic Centre, the Northern Ireland Council for Racial Equality and the human-rights lawyers Phoenix Law. The coalition also has a number of academics on its steering group.
A launch event was held in Stormont on Wednesday, the day that the Integrated Education Act came into force.
Non-integrated schools are the norm in Northern Ireland. Only around 7 per cent of pupils are educated in integrated schools, which aim to mix pupils from Protestant, Catholic and other backgrounds.
The new coalition says its “mission” is to “abolish this historical division in education and push for an inclusive system, with recognition of each person’s right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief”.
It also advocates religious education being “taught in a way that is objective, critical, and pluralistic, and inspected in line with other curriculum subjects”, adding: “In this way, it will contribute to the ongoing process of bringing Northern Ireland society together.”
Northern Ireland Humanists coordinator Boyd Sleator said that the formation of the Coalition for Inclusive Education ”marks a great step forward in our push for inclusivity in Northern Ireland schools”.
He added: “Let’s keep this momentum going and demonstrate to decision-makers that education in Northern Ireland cannot remain so divided anymore.”
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris is expected to call an election on Friday, following the failure of a last-ditch effort to restore the multi-party executive.
The DUP is blocking the restoration of powersharing as part of its protest against the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.
Mr Heaton-Harris said he was “extremely disappointed” that a Stormont executive has not been reformed since elections in May, adding that he will provide an update on his “legal duty to act”.
Stormont ministers, who have been operating in shadow form since the assembly collapsed earlier this year, also ceased to hold office at midnight.
Responsibility for running devolved departments will now pass to senior civil servants, although their powers are limited.
