New school tests may need Irish translation
New school tests may need Irish translation
255 words
Publication date: 17 March 2009
Source: Belfast Telegraph
Page: 2,3
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THE ongoing debate over school transfer tests has taken another twist after it emerged that exams may have to be translated into Irish.
According to the BBC, Education Minister Caitríona Ruane has said that schools wishing to set their own tests may have to provide a translation to give pupils from Irish medium primary schools an equal chance.
She warned that failure to do so could lead to legal challenges from parents.
One group of grammar schools has already arranged translations, but, according to reports, another has not yet decided what to do.
Ulster Unionist Party education spokesman Basil McCrea said: “People will take the appropriate legal position, check what the legal requirement is and I’m sure they will comply with what is required. But the fundamental problem is that this crisis has been brought on by an intransigent Minister for Education determined to politicise the education of our children.”
Ballymena Academy, which is set to link up with Catholic schools to provide a verbal reasoning test, has approved an Irish language version of the paper.
The Association for Quality Education – an alliance of parents, principals, governors and teachers opposed to the scrapping of selection – said they had not made a final decision, and that pupils would be taught in English at the grammar schools to which they were applying.
The representative body for Irish-medium education in Northern Ireland, Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta, has written to grammar school groups about the matter.