‘Minister must account for failure to address school starting age flexibility’ – Rogers

SDLP Education Spokesperson Seán Rogers MLA has called on Sinn Féin Education Minister John O’Dowd to urgently explain to the Education committee and to parents why he allowed the legislative timeline to introduce flexibility on the school starting age to expire.

Rogers said, “I was absolutely disgusted to hear from departmental officials today that the Minister no longer believes he has the necessary time to prepare legislation to add flexibility to the school starting age.

“This is not an issue that he has been taken surprise by, in fact it has been on the Department’s radar since 2008.

“In January of this year, departmental officials told campaigners that their preparations were well advanced and that their timetable was manageable,” the SDLP MLA continued.

“The Minister himself in October of last year said that he hoped arrangements would be in place for September 2016. This now begs the question, what has happened since then?

“The simple fact is that if you live in the South or in Scotland, parents and their children would be guaranteed school starting age flexibility. There’s no doubt that this flexibility results in improved outcomes for many children.

Rogers added, “Once again the Minister has mishandled the situation. He must now account for this and explain whether the result is down to incompetence or not taking the wishes of parents seriously.”

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=50546

Posted by Newry Times News on Apr 30 2015. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry