The Workers’ Party believes that our education system must be developed on an egalitarian, democratic, and secular basis.
The Workers Party opposes the current segregated education system in Northern Ireland. We reject the so called Shared education approach of the Stormont Executive advocated by the main Nationalist parties, which maintains the divisive segregation of our children on religious grounds and further entrenches sectarianism. We believe this is done to placate vested interests by the Catholic Church and Nationalist parties such as Sinn Fein SDLP and DUP to maintain their electoral base.
The Workers Party supports the Integrated system of education of our children and the integration of teacher training facilities.
The Workers’ Party opposes the increasing privatisation of our education system. We believe in a public system, paid for through taxation and taken out of the control of the churches and religious bodies.
It is a fundamental principle of the Workers’ Party that all schools receiving state funding must have open access to all children regardless of social, cultural or ethnic background, intellectual ability or religious beliefs. Private fee-paying schools should receive no state funding. Their teaching and support staff should not be paid for by the state and they should not be able to claim tax rebates on voluntary contributions. The collection of ‘voluntary contributions’ should be outlawed in state funded schools and those schools should be prohibited from asking prospective parents for deposits when their child applies for a school place.
Education should be free to all, including migrant children and asylum seekers, from pre-school up to and including postgraduate studies.
Financial and learning support, including all the necessary supports required by people with disabilities, should be available to facilitate both young people and adults to re-enter the education system at any stage of their lifetime.