Bishop Séamus Hegarty has called on Northern Ireland Education Minister, Caitríona Ruane, to clarify the Executive's stance on the issue of the transfer of pupils from primary to post-primary schools. Speaking at the official opening of Holy Cross College in Strabane, Co Tyrone, Bishop Hegarty asked the minister to urgently attend to the issue of school transfer.
''Parents are confused about where they should send their children.
''Teachers are equally uncertain about whether they should support entrance tests, or support the revised curriculum, and they await clarification from the Minister,'' he said.
Last month, the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland, and the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, announced a joint plan to help end the 11-plus stalemate, which suggested pupil transfers at 14 years-of-age instead of 11 years-of-age as a ''workable proposal''.
Consensus
Commenting on the debate last week, Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, said he believed there was ''a growing consensus that pupils should be transferred at the age of 14 as opposed to 11''.
Minister Ruane has welcomed the Church leaders' proposal as ''a helpful intervention'', but has not been drawn further on the issue.
Bishop Hegarty said he was disappointed that Minister Ruane did not tackle the issue when she addressed the school opening on Monday.
''We were hoping that she would give clarity on the issue of transfer and admission tests, but she declined to do so.
''She did undertake to consider it further,'' he said.
Holy Cross College is a flagship Catholic maintained school providing bilateral Post Primary education for Strabane and the surrounding area.
The school came about from the amalgamation of two single-sex secondary schools and a co-ed Grammar School: St Colman's High School, Strabane Convent Grammar and Our Lady of Mercy Intermediate School.
The school has 1,400 pupils in attendance, and the state-of-the-art building cost over Stg£29m.
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(Source: IC)