Sinn Féin MLA Karen Mullan has said transfer tests and academic selection should be scrapped not postponed.

The party’s Education spokesperson was speaking after transfer tests in the north were pushed back for two weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Karen Mullan said:

“There is overwhelming international and domestic evidence that academic selection perpetuates inequality, damages the education system and has a hugely negative impact on our children.

“The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Equality Commission, Human Rights Commission, Children’s Commissioner, OECD, the trade union movement and the Catholic hierarchy have all called for an end to academic selection and these calls should be heeded. 

“Rather than postponing the transfer tests for two weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we should be encouraging those schools that have not yet moved away from academic selection to show leadership and end these damaging tests.”