Industry News
Government has 'no right' to stop selection
Posted on 22nd April 2008
A Northern Ireland school has spoken out against government attempts to change its pupil selection process.
Since the announcement that the 11 Plus exam would be abolished this year, Lumen Christi College's board of governors has made attempts to implement its own admissions tests.
However, the decision was rebuked by NI education minister Caitriona Ruane, who wrote to the school saying it would receive no state funding for the scheme, the BBC has reported.
Head teacher Pete O'Doherty said the education department had no legal right to prevent the new exam being implemented.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr O'Doherty said: "For us, the most important single thing is the primacy of parental choice."
He added that the imposition of a 'one size fits all' policy went against parental choice.
Ms Ruane wrote to the college, saying: "Academic selection, independently developed and operated by schools and based on entrance tests, is a prospect fraught with administrative and litigious perils."
A senior trustee of the college, Bishop Seamus Hegarty, spoke out against the school's decision at the beginning of April.