NICIE launches fight back campaign against the cuts
Protect Integrated Education: Prevent NICIE cuts
What cuts are proposed for NICIE?
The DE draft budget proposes to reduce NICIE’s modest budget of £665,000 by £100,000 to £565,000. This represents a reduction of 15% almost twice the average across the education world. This proposed cut is disproportionate and punitive and will severely impact upon and undermine the work of NICIE
.
What does NICIE do?
NICIE:
- Challenges the segregated system of education we have in Northern Ireland
- Supports schools who wish to become integrated through transformation or ethos change
- Supports parents who want an integrated education for their children
- Supports the 62 integrated schools which exist
- Supports the development of the integrated model of education
- Works for an expansion of integrated education to meet parental demand
Why the cuts cannot be accepted?
- We continue to educate our children separately. 93 percent of our children are educated in single identity schools
- Our society continues to be fractured; we need to promote mutual understanding and cohesion. Our schools provide a space in which to do this
- Our economy is in crisis with budgets to schools being cut. A reimagining of our system would release funds to provide a quality education and play its part in shaping the citizens of a peaceful, prosperous tomorrow
- There is an increased public debate around education with public support for integrated education standing consistently at 80%
How can you help?
Respond to budgetconsultation@deni.gov.uk
- Record your support for Integrated Education and your recognition of the work of NICIE
- Register your protest at the proposed cuts to NICIE
- Remind DE of their statutory obligation to support Integrated Education, provided by both Article 64 Education Reform Order (1989) and written into the Belfast Agreement
- Remind DE of the recent Judicial Review which reminded DE they must be alive to their duty to encourage and facilitate Integrated Education and should guard against actions which might impeded this support. Cutting NICIE’s budget will seriously impede the expansion of Integrated Education
- Keep the debate on a ‘fit for future’ education system alive
Support this campaign via Twitter using
#protectintegratededucationNICIE
And follow us at
https://twitter.com/niciebelfast
Protect Integrated Education: Prevent NICIE cuts!