UUP asks Education Minister whether she will set a deadline for Academic Selection Replacement
Ulster Unionist Education spokesman Basil McCrea today asked the Education Minister whether she agreed with CCEA that the latest date for a decision on a transfer test is January 2008 and whether she intended to address the issue or merely run down the clock so that no discussion is possible.
Mr McCrea posed the question during Ministers question time in the Assembly today amid growing concerns from parents and teachers that the question of what will replace the transfer test is still hanging in the air with only 73 days to go before academic selection becomes obsolete.
In a statement Mr McCrea said,
“We need to know if the Minister agrees with deadline set by CCEA. There are few things more important to parents than the educational future of their children and the Minister’s delay in making a decision is causing worry and distress to many.
Minister Ruane is putting everyone in a very unfair position by refusing to enter into a debate on this. It is very unreasonable, with just 73 days to go before academic selection is consigned to the dustbin, to ask people to be patient.
Either the Minister knows exactly what she is going to do and that she is so confident about her plans that she doesn’t need to tell anyone or she is being driven by a political agenda to do away with academic selection but doesn’t have a clue what to replace it with. All this stalling leads me to believe that she is not on top of her brief.”