Education System In NI Is Under 'Considerable Strain'

Northern Ireland's education system is under "considerable strain", according to a senior civil servant.

Department of Education Permanent Secretary Derek Baker was speaking after the Departmental accounts for 2017-18 were published which revealed that the Education Authority overspent its budget by around £19 million.

Alliance Education spokesperson Chris Lyttle MLA repeated his call for a Bengoa-style root and branch review of the education system.

Mr Lyttle said the Bengoa Report, a Government-appointed panel led by international expert Professor Rafael Bengoa which made over a dozen recommendations on how to make our health service fit for the 21st Century, could provide the basis for a similar comprehensive review of the education system.

He said: "There have been numerous independent reports and recommendations into the education system here but they have not been adequately implemented. It is now clear we need a comprehensive review of these recommendations and implementation of reform if we are to arrest the ongoing impact of this financial crisis on our schools.

"This impacts everyone in our society and due to the lack of an Executive to put a strategic plan in place, it is only likely to get worse. We need to deliver the reform necessary to ensure our education system becomes structured and resourced enough to allow all our schools to deliver high quality education for all children across Northern Ireland."

Ulster Unionist Education Spokesperson, Rosemary Barton MLA, said: "The current situation is wholly untenable and I have come to the worrying conclusion that almost all savings that can be made by schools, have been made. If schools are forced to go any further then I fear the quality of education being delivered to our young people will quickly begin to deteriorate.

"Already an unacceptable number of teachers are working with class sizes that are too large, in buildings which are no longer fit for purpose and under the threat of further budget cutbacks.

"Yet the problems are nothing new – they have been long known and long discussed – what I find unacceptable is that nothing at all is being done to resolve them.

"Whilst the stalemate at Stormont is undoubtedly making the current problem worse, even if there was a fully functioning Executive unless difficult decisions were made on the future structure of our education system I suspect schools would still be in a difficult funding position.

"Instead of piecemeal changes, such as many of the proposals within the current area planning process, it's obvious that if we are to deliver the best education possible, more radical and transformative change is needed."

(CD)