The Workers Party’s Lily Kerr has condemned the draft Integrated Education Bill as ‘not fit for purpose’ and has attacked the integrated education record of the main political parties.

In her party’s submission to the consultation process Lily said,

“It is an appalling indictment of our society, and of our political processes, that, 40 years after the opening of Northern Ireland’s first integrated school and 23 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, only 7% of our pupils are taught in an integrated setting and that we continue to maintain separate teacher training colleges.The main political parties have denied their responsibilities and connived to set back the integrated education project through disingenuous schemes such as the ‘shared education’ ploy”.

“The stark reality”, Lily said is that, for as long as the Northern Ireland Executive is run by two major and competing sectarian power blocs, no progress will be made on integrating the education system, or indeed any other aspect of society.

Click below for theParty’s full submission