Integrating Schools in Northern Ireland

One of the things which has helped perpetuate the violence and conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland is the fact that the two groups hardly ever interact socially. Something that would help is integrated schools - get them together as children and let them grow up seeing one another as regular human beings. It's a nice idea, but for some reason it's just not happening.

IC Northern Ireland reports:

Speaking yesterday as she opened a pre-school facility at Forge Integrated Primary in Belfast, the US Consul General [Barbara Stephenson] described herself as "a passionate friend and ardent supporter" of integrated education. But, in a break with protocol, she expressed her views on the integrated system here, saying parents faced a "staggering hurdle" compared to her experience at home in America. ... "It is so hard to believe that the default is still set on a Protestant school and Catholic school rather than an integrated school and that you actually have to prove your case to open an integrated school. It is mind- boggling from an American perspective."

It is indeed a disappointment that political leaders lack the political will to do what is right and necessary: integrate the schools as an important means of integrating society generally. Integration won't eliminate strife and conflict, but it should be able to lessen them considerably by building bridges of understanding and trust at the most basic level from childhood on.

Read More:

• Roman Catholicism
• Violence in Northern Ireland