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21/02/2003
Union meeting to vote on future of rural schools
The leader of the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) is to address the NAS/UWT union on Friday night over the exodus of farm workers that is threatening the future of a number of rural schools across Northern Ireland.
John Gilliland will take part in the debate which aims to secure the future of rural schools in Northern Ireland because of a dwindling farming community.
Members will be asked to vote on a plan which would safeguard rural schools by uniting clusters of them under a single board of governors and one principal.
The teachers' union says that would give pupils access to a larger number of teachers offering a wider range of interests.
More than 1,300 farm businesses in Northern Ireland closed between June 2001 and June 2002 as average farm income fell to £88 a week following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease across Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
In the four years up to last year, the UFU said about a tenth of their members had left the industry because of the problems which are affecting all agricultural sectors.
(MB)
John Gilliland will take part in the debate which aims to secure the future of rural schools in Northern Ireland because of a dwindling farming community.
Members will be asked to vote on a plan which would safeguard rural schools by uniting clusters of them under a single board of governors and one principal.
The teachers' union says that would give pupils access to a larger number of teachers offering a wider range of interests.
More than 1,300 farm businesses in Northern Ireland closed between June 2001 and June 2002 as average farm income fell to £88 a week following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease across Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
In the four years up to last year, the UFU said about a tenth of their members had left the industry because of the problems which are affecting all agricultural sectors.
(MB)
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Northern Ireland WeatherThis Evening and Tonight:A largely dry evening and night. It will be mostly cloudy, but a few clear spells are possible in the east during the evening. Some patchy rain across the west shortly before dawn. Minimum temperature 5 °C.
