Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“As time goes on it is becoming increasingly clear that the concerns of innocent victims about the Sinn Fein/DUP plans for the Maze site are well founded. An answer which I received today from the Education Minister will compound those fears.
“I asked the Education Minister how his Department and schools will relate to, and use, the proposed Conflict Resolution Centre and prison buildings at the Maze site. O’Dowd responded telling me that the “Conflict Resolution Centre and prison buildings at the Maze site are likely to provide important educational opportunities for our young people”. He then went on to say that the Department could “facilitate the dissemination of materials produced by the Centre to schools” and likened this to work the Department of Education has already done with resources produced by the Imperial War Museum dealing with the Holocaust!
“We have already seen, with the highlighting of a teaching aid for Bog Child which was highlighted by the UUP, that there are forces within our education system which are intent on perverting the minds of our children when it comes to the Troubles and the IRA’s murdering role within them.
“It should shock and appal all right thinking people that a party which continues to defend the IRA murder campaign should have such plans for the Maze site.”
Mr Allister’s question and the answer provided are as follows:
To ask the Minister of Education how his Department and schools will relate to, and use, the proposed Conflict Resolution Centre and prison buildings at the Maze site; and to outline any related material which may be produced.
While the proposed Conflict Resolution Centre and prison buildings at the Maze site are likely to provide important educational opportunities for our young people, it is a matter for schools to decide how they deliver the curriculum. The Department does not prescribe resources or programmes to be used by schools in their delivery of the curriculum, which provides teachers with greater flexibility to decide on the educational resources and programmes they wish to use to enhance teaching and learning. This also includes educational visits outside of the classroom.
Funding for Community Relations activities is made available to schools and youth groups through the Community Relations, Equality and Diversity (CRED) Enhancement Scheme. This application based scheme is managed by the Education and Library Boards, but like the curriculum, it is up to individual schools/youth groups to decide how the funding is best used to meet the needs of their young people.
If requested the Department could of course facilitate the dissemination of materials produced by the Centre to schools by making them available via the C2k managed ICT service. For example, the Department recently offered to make available, via the C2k exchange, a holocaust learning resource produced by the Imperial War Museum in London.