The Progressive Unionist Party believes that education is a fundamental human right which government is obligated to provide from pre-school to university level.
The Party opposes the local management of schools where Heads and Teachers are more and more regarded as glorified administrators. This tends to place the focus more on budgeting than on education and attempts to shift the blame for bad management from central government to individual schools.
We demand a full return to Student Grants, the abolition of the iniquitous loan scheme and call for the scrapping of the 11+ together with the introduction of non-selective co-education.
The Party calls upon government to provide more financial and practical support for the development of integrated education at both primary and secondary levels and party members will work to make integrated education a real viable alternative for those parents and children who wish to avail themselves of it.
We demand a radical reappraisal at primary level to ensure a fair and equitable education for all pupils and call for the abolition of testing for eight year-olds.
The Party calls for increased funding for the provision of pre-school education in all areas