On
6 July a little bit of history was made. The government, for the first
time ever, suspended one of Northern Ireland’s five Education
Boards and imposed four commissioners to run education in the South
Eastern Education and Library Board area (Co Down).
The last pretence that people in Northern Ireland have any say over
the running of their children’s education has been stripped away.
New Labour Direct Rule Minister, Maria Eagle, took this desperate
step in an attempt to force through the government’s draconian
education policy. If the government gets its way, schools will close,
class sizes will increase, school bus passes will be taken away and
special needs children will come in for particularly brutal treatment,
with many losing the support that allows them to progress through education.
The decision to suspend the Board came at the end of its last meeting
on 6 July. The meeting had been instructed by the government, under
threat of legal action, to agree the cuts, but campaigners forced the
Board to retreat. Despite having packed the Board with government supporters
who would be quite happy to slash education services, they faced so
much opposition that they were not able to get them voted through.
Campaigners against the cuts, including Socialist Party members, mounted
a lively demonstration on the day of the meeting by organising a march
through Dundonald and a protest outside the Board meeting. Despite the
best efforts of the Board to exclude the public, they were able to get
into the meeting and make their presence felt. The campaigners have
already won a number of partial victories, forcing three previous meetings
of the Board to step back from cuts and forcing the government to provide
over £1.2 million in additional funding. The latest development
represents another victory for the campaign, but also means that the
issue will become sharper as the government no longer has to rely on
36 Board members to do its bidding. It can now use the four commissioners
who will be less easily pressured by the public.
The campaign against the cuts will now have to develop rapidly to deal
with the latest government attacks. Although the two main non-teaching
unions in the SEELB, UNISON and NIPSA, are deeply involved in the campaign,
the teachers’ unions have stood back from the fight. If the campaign
is to be successful and children are to be protected, the teachers’
unions must become fully involved. Parents are becoming increasingly
aware of the impact of the cuts on their children and a number of local
campaigns have developed around specific issues such as school closures,
special needs cuts and transport cuts.
The different local campaigns need to link up together throughout all
the five boards with all the education unions and build for a day of
action in the new school term in September. A one-day strike across
the North involving mobilising local communities and young people in
defence of education would have a serious impact on the government.
It would also need to be the start of a determined campaign to force
the government to drop its plans to destroy education.
