The Church of Ireland says it understands the pain caused by school closures but that the “harsh reality” of financial pressures plays a crucial part in such decisions.
The DUP, however, argues that unionists are being hit harder than nationalists.
The Department of Education says there have been 20 primary school closures between 2009 and 2011 across Northern Ireland. This will mount to 25 closures by August this year – a total of 11 Catholic primaries and 14 non-Catholic primaries closing since 2009.
Rev Ian Ellis, secretary to the Church of Ireland Board of Education, served in Aghavilly parish as a young curate.
“I can understand just how painful this decision must be for the community, governors and the very dedicated staff of the school,” he said. Rev Ellis notes his church still has legal right of representation on the boards of governors of many such schools, as it placed many of them into state trust decades ago.
“However the harsh reality of the cuts to the education budget means that many small primary schools across Northern Ireland with low pupil enrolment will struggle to be viable,” he adds.
“In recent years, because of the declining pupil numbers, the intake of pupils can be so reduced that a very small school may find it difficult to provide the range of facilities and experiences that a larger school can.”
But Stormont education committee chairman Mervyn Storey, of the DUP, does not believe the axe is falling fairly.
“I believe the primary and post-primary controlled [state] sectors have taken a disproportionate hit,” he said.
“Part of the reason is that the department has allowed the Catholic Council for Maintained Schools to divert budgets to amalgamations and fewer closures compared to schools in the controlled [state] sector.”
If a controlled [state] school closes it causes no further cost to the taxpayer, claimed Mr Storey, but Catholic sector schools tend to merge much more often. This incurs significant costs to the taxpayer afterwards to support what often turns out to be a single small school.