18th May 2023
Reacting to the announcement from the Education Authority in regard to the Mainstreaming Shared Education budget cuts, Marie O’Shea, INTO Assistant Northern Secretary said,
“The announcement of a 50% cut to the shared education budget puts schools in the position of having to significantly scale back this valuable programme for the next academic year.
Over the years the now internationally acclaimed Shared Education programmes across the north have provided for high quality pupil to pupil engagements at a local level. Sometimes these partnerships provided the only opportunity for children and young people to engage with others from different religions, traditions, and backgrounds. The transferable skills gained by young people from participating in these opportunities have contributed towards the breaking down of divisions across our society.
Schools do not have capacity in their already decimated budgets to self-fund this work moving forward. Again, the short-sightedness of these decisions will set back the work of these school partnerships for many years to come and disrupt their work towards a shared prosperity.”