DUP education spokesman Mervyn Storey yesterday rubbished rumours surrounding the future of the Dickson Plan and academic selection in Northern Ireland.
The North Antrim MLA said that while there was still no resolution on the transfer of pupils from primary schools, “the DUP have copper fastened the question of selection by insisting that the Education Bill currently before the Assembly includes a provision making it clear that selection remains a matter for boards of governors alone”.
Upper Bann MP David Simpson added: “The Dickson Plan has strong support in Upper Bann. That support is not going to change and nor is the DUP’s position on maintaining this system.”
The DUP statement came after the chairman of the board of governors at Portadown College yesterday highlighted minutes in which the education minister and a property developer were party to talks about what critics fear could be a single new education campus in Portadown to replace five post-primary schools in the Portadown area.
The DUP made their statement after the News Letter asked if Sinn Fein and the DUP had come to an arrangement on the future of the Dickson Plan and academic selection, as several DUP representatives are also members of the group which discussed the property development.
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