Speaking on education funding in Northern Ireland, Margaret Ritchie said today: “The Minister for Education needs to take decisive action to reverse the cuts in education provision including schools which have impacted upon schools infrastructure projects resulting in delays in maintenance work, curriculum delivery and school transport.
“Sound education provision from pre-school provision to third level provides sound building blocks for the social and economic fabric of our communities.
“Local educational provision is facing cuts encompassing :
* a potential loss of child care places and staff at pre-school playgroups;
* a delay in school extension and minor works programmes;
* caps placed on school numbers in Primary and Secondary Schools;
* reductions in budgetary allocations to schools which will mean teacher and other redundancies,
* and the removal of access to school transport for some of our children.
“Such decisions impact on the quality of educational provision, and it is now incumbent on the Minister for Education to explore and implement ways through quarterly financial monitoring rounds and other measures to correct such deficiencies to ensure that all our children are able to access the high quality education that they deserve. “I have made repeated representations to the Minister for Education and the Northern Ireland Executive urging that they ensure that all our children receive a high quality education and that all resource measures including staff and finance are in place to do just that” added Ms Ritchie.
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