By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 57 minutes ago
DUBLIN, Ireland - Almost all the children who could not find elementary school places in a Dublin suburb this year were black, the government said Monday, highlighting Ireland's problems integrating its increasingly diverse population.
The children will attend a new, all-black school, a prospect that educators called disheartening.
About 90 children could not find school places in the north Dublin suburb of Balbriggan , a town of more than 10,000 people with two elementary schools. Local educators called a meeting over the weekend for parents struggling to find places and said they were shocked to see only black children.
"That overwhelmed me. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. I just find it extremely concerning," said Gerard Kelly, principal of a school with a mixture of black and white students in the nearby town of Swords.
The parents at Saturday's meeting in a Balbriggan hotel said they had tried to get their children into local schools but were told that all places had to be reserved by February.
Almost all of the children are Irish-born and thus Irish citizens, under a law that existed until 2004.
Some parents questioned why white families who had moved this year into the town had managed to overcome the registration deadlines to get their children into schools.
Rest of story at link above.
How is it that 'our' children seem to always be stuck at the losing end, no matter where we are? Well, I hope these parents step up to the plate and fight for their children's educations.
Posts
2 comments:
Hello from Ireland. Disheartening isn't even the word that I'd use to describe the phenomena because it is outright racism. I hope the parents will go to the Equality Authority over this, www.equality.ie.
And I always thought of Europe as being more inclusive...
I guess it all depends on the Country.
I was also not aware that the schools there were run by the Church.
This story fits in somewhat with the story of the Muslim teacher in New York who was forced out of her position. This kind of xenophobia seems to be getting worse rather than better.
I remember last year when there were numerous racial attacks against Black soccer players in Europe. And more recently, there was the misconduct involving the German Army.
You would think that with the passing of time these racist feelings would decrease significantly...but they seem to be intergenerational.
And now they are talking about segregating the students rather than getting them into the schools where they are supposed to be?
There should be a UN or EU body for investigating this. Any nation that allows this nonsense...and in the case of Ireland...seems to be facilitating it... they should be barred from sitting on Human rights panels or any other important committees...
There are all sorts of mechanisms for protecting Jewish people and for punishing anyone who even says anything remotely wrong regarding Israel or Jews... yet there are no such protections for other minority groups. There definitely seems to be some hypocrisy there. The double standards are obvious.
Post a Comment