Mark Brotherston has accused the education minister of presiding over “ongoing disarray” at the department of education at Stormont. The NI Conservatives’ spokesman said Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd “consistently tramples over the interests of teachers, pupils and parents”.
“The latest debacle for the minister involves 120 staff from schools across Northern Ireland learning that they will not receive redundancy deals at the end of the term, which is the end of this week”, Mark explained. “Not content with ignoring parents, attacking successful schools and wasting money, hand over fist, John O’Dowd has plunged the plans of teachers and other staff into chaos, with his department making decisions on their futures at the latest possible moment. That is unprofessional and unfair, to a ridiculous degree.”
“Sinn Féin’s incessant attacks on Northern Ireland’s education system, over the years, have been nothing short of scandalous. Their attempts to destroy the grammar sector, the utter shambles around the doomed single Education and Skills Authority, their failure to discharge a legal responsibility to encourage integrated education – the list could go on and on. Parents and teachers have every right to ask, what exactly will it take before the minister considers resigning? John O’Dowd’s tenure at the department of education has been an unmitigated disaster and, if he had any regard for the future of schools and children, he would step down immediately.”