Parents of pupils at the Moat Primary School in Lisnaskea have come together to form an Action Group to oppose the Pre-Consultation Document on the future of Post-Primary Education released by the Western Education and Library Board

OBJECTIVES

A spokesperson outlined the objectives of the Group who met on Monday night: "The bottom line is we are determined to fight for the Moat. There are also obvious flaws with the process in general.

"The fact the Moat and the other rural schools were put in the firing line, shows a complete lack of proper public consultation and planning on the part of the Western Board."

He explained the first the Moat parents knew about the possible changes was when the document was leaked to a daily newspaper. The spokesperson drew comparisons between a recent visit to the Moat by Agriculture Minister, Michelle Gildernew who spoke about the importance of rural schools which, she suggested, was in stark contradiction to the proposals outlined by the Western Board.

The next stage for the Moat Action Group is to make representations at next week's two public meeting on the document.

The spokesperson explained: "We want our opinions to be heard. However, this will now be in the context of the document which is already drafted.

"We would call on the Board to implement an 'Option F', in other words, abandon this process and start again. Given the fact this was released before the Education Minister announcement on selection, everything is too uncertain. The document was drafted in a vacuum.

"The bottom line is the Bain Report wasn't written in the context of Fermanagh schools, and if Fermanagh is to be the guinea pig, then a proper collaborative consultative process needs to be implemented from scratch."