Stormont’s Education Minister has defended the criteria used for identifying schools that could benefit from a new programme to tackle educational underachievement and disadvantage.
Paul Givan was joined by his counterpart from the Irish Government, Education Minister Norma Foley, on a series of school visits in the Lisburn area on Wednesday as they formally launched the Raise initiative.
The £20 million programme will deliver a range of educational supports in eligible schools in 15 areas across Northern Ireland.
It is being supported through the Irish Government’s Shared Island Fund.
However, questions have been raised over the eligibility criteria, with critics claiming schools in some of the most deprived areas in Northern Ireland are set to miss out while many grammar schools, including fee-paying institutions, will be able to access the funding.
Mr Givan was asked about the issue as he and Ms Foley visited Lisnagarvey High School in Lisburn on Wednesday.
“A key component around the criteria is educational underachievement,” he said.
“It’s based upon where the pupil lives, not necessarily the school that the pupil goes to, but there was a whole range of criteria applied to that, including a geographical spread right across Northern Ireland.
“I’m particularly pleased that every council area is involved in this, because that helps increase the collaboration between the Department of Education, but also our local authorities, because that speaks to the wider, whole community, societal response to how we can help in education.”
He added: “The criteria that’s been used, I think, is very well evidence-based and reflects the needs within our wider society.”
Welcoming the programme, minister Foley said: “I am delighted that the Irish Government has been able to support this initiative through the Shared Island Fund as part of our wider long-standing co-operation with the Northern Ireland Executive on education attainment issues.
“The Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme in Ireland is supporting almost 260,000 students and has helped to address concentrated educational disadvantage in a targeted and equitable way across primary and post-primary schools.
“There are many lessons that we can jointly learn from working together with the Department of Education in Northern Ireland on how we can support education attainment.”