Sinn Féin education spokesperson Pat Sheehan has called on the Education Minister to make an ambitious bid for COVID funding in order to resource an education and well-being recovery strategy for schools. 

The West Belfast MLA said: 

”This week’s announcement that an additional £300 million in COVID funding would be available to the Executive presents a unique opportunity to support children and young people. 

”Today at the Education Committee I once again took the opportunity to push the need for a coherent and integrated strategy led by the Department of Education aimed at addressing learning loss and recovering the mental health and well-being of children and young people. 

”I suggested that as a committee we write to the Minister and encourage him to make a bid for some of this funding so that work on an ambitious strategy can begin urgently. 

”We need to move beyond the Minister’s disjointed, inadequately resourced and piecemeal initiatives, we need to see his ambition for our children and young people reflected in a plan designed to support them.”