18th December 2020
INTO released two Press Releases on Friday 18 December in response to Minister Weir’s late announcements:
INTO Anger At Minister’s Letter To Schools
Mr Gerry Murphy, INTO Northern Secretary, has outlined his members’ anger, disappointment and frustration that the Minister of Education has chosen to wait until 8pm on the Friday evening that the majority of schools have closed for the Christmas holidays, to inform Principals of schools that they will reopen as normal in January 2021.
The Minister clearly has no regard for the health and wellbeing of education workers, INTO members, and it would appear he has little concern for the children and young people in his department’s care or their parents.
Mr Murphy calls on the Education Minister to reconsider this rash decision. He should instead take account of the rapidly rising R number and consider where it sits in light of the broader strategy already agreed by the NI Executive.
INTO Opposes Any Move By Minister Weir To Put The Responsibility For Unregulated Tests Into The Primary Schools
Mr Gerry Murphy, INTO Northern Secretary, has reacted to the statement from Minister Weir, where the Minister has expressed his preferred option that unregulated selection tests be hosted by the candidate’s primary school.
Mr Murphy said,
‘As the Minister has pointed out previously, his department has no control over this process, and INTO has been opposed to academic selection as a means of transfer for pupils from primary to post primary school for half a century. To now expect primary schools to take on the facilitation of these unregulated tests would involve schools to facilitate continued social and economic division.’
Mr Murphy continued,
‘INTO will be instructing our members to ignore any request from the Department of Education to facilitate this non-statutory testing on behalf of private companies. INTO considers that, in the middle of a Covid-19 pandemic, that the Department of Education would be better served focusing on preserving the health and well-being of the children in their care rather than safeguarding the profit margins of private businesses.’