By Baroness May Blood, as seen in the Belfast Telegraph, Monday 25th July 2011
The Troubles left many people in Northern Ireland with little to lose; and the peace process should have brought many gains. In most places it has done, but there is a hefty proportion of people who feel little material benefit from political progress and now, with the recession, they feel little hope for the future.
I can list some of the problems we now face: low academic achievement, especially among young Protestant males; discontent and in some cases anger and violence. It was so sad to see the eruption of rioting among young people who should be facing their adult years with hope and confidence.
We have to open the eyes of these young people to future possibilities and the broader and more open their experience of education, the easier this will be. It’s frustrating to think that almost 20 years ago there was a big push from the community leaders in the Shankill to have the area designated an “Education Action Zone”. But the project was parked just as we thought we would succeed, and since then we have seen an increase in the problems it was designed to target, and an increase in the cost of tackling them.
I would not deny that one of these problems is the sectarianism which still flares into aggression. This sectarianism has to be openly opposed, and that process should start with the young. I firmly believe that exposing children from an early age to a culture where difference is acknowledged and respected is crucial. Our elected politicians must take the lead; as long as our schools are, in practice, segregated along religious lines, any messages about sharing and equality are sent out in the context of statutory division.
A change in our system of schooling would affect these young lives in so many ways. Sharing resources means wider access to resources. This better use of the budget would mean ending the current duplication of services and accepting the sense in working together. This would lead to well-equipped schools and community hubs where libraries and leisure centres flourish instead of being run down or closed. Best practice in the classroom can be discussed and shared.
Education should be responsive to the needs of young people and the changing culture they are living in. We have good teachers who offer this, but they need good structures, properly resourced, to work in.
A classroom where diversity is respected means young people are comfortable in their own culture and identity. This then broadens horizons, whereas segregation allows people to look no further than the end of their street. Young people need to feel part of a wider world, where opportunities can be found or created.
I should point out that for some years, at grassroots, many people have been quietly reaching out to neighbours. It’s up to politicians to build on this and to follow the lead of the voters. A senior Tory at Westminster was derided for saying we were all in the recession together - but we are all in Northern Ireland together, we are all working through the peace process together, and to weather the economic storm all sections of the community must feel that we are moving to a better future together.