Statement by Richard Cairns, TUV Assembly Candidate for South Antrim:
“The last Assembly saw an intensification of Sinn Fein/IRA’s assault on our education system. While leading grammar schools have been closed, the Irish language sector has received preferential treatment.
“While Enniskillen Collegiate, one of the most prestigious schools in Northern Ireland, was closed by the Sinn Fein Minister, he approved an Irish language school with just 14 pupils in Dungiven.
“These double standards cannot be allowed to continue.
“There must be no funding hierarchy whereby secondary schools are disadvantaged. Northern Ireland must value all its children, but to do so we must equally facilitate the academic potential of some – rather than thwart it – and the different talents of others. Choice, not prescription, is our guide.
“We oppose the Sinn Fein Minister’s policy which has resulted in the removal of the possibility of pupils in Northern Ireland availing of GCSEs offered by examination boards in Great Britain. This was the disruptive outcome which the minister was warned about when he announced his foolish failure to follow GB GCSE changes on 17 November 2015. If he expected the GB Boards to specially mark NI students on an alphabetical basis, while switching to numerical grading in GB, then he was at best naive.
“We now have a situation in Northern Ireland where the regulator (CCEA) is also the sole provider of examinations. This is a clear conflict of interest.
“On top of all that, young people who move to other parts of the U.K. for employment or further education will face problems explaining what their qualifications actually mean. The portability of their GCSE qualifications has been destroyed by the minister’s politicking.
“TUV believes that the GCSE system should be standardised with that of England and that schools should return to a situation where they have the option to use English examination boards for GCSE examinations.
“While there has been a disproportionate focus on teaching Irish, modern languages, which are essential in today’s economy, have been neglected. If Northern Ireland is to compete on the international business scene there must be a focus on foreign languages both at primary and secondary level.
“TUV wants to make it compulsory that GCSE pupils take at least one modern language. We also believe that modern languages should be a compulsory part of the Key Stage 2 curriculum in primary schools.
“Last but not least we want to address underachievement in education. A report by the Equality Commission published in October last year (Key Inequalities in Education) found “Protestants persistently have lower levels of attainment than Catholics at GCSE and A ‘level”. This fact cannot go ignored any longer. There is a need for focused action to address it.”