Sian Mulholland, the Alliance Party MLA for North Antrim, has expressed her grave concerns. A surprisingly high percentage of students are dropping out of schools in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. The Education Authority (EA), responsible for administrating schooling, has recently published a list of over 50,000 children unaccounted for in the schooling system. This shocking announcement has elicited an outpouring of concern from local educators and officials.
On 8 October, the EA’s Education Welfare Service issued a letter to principals right across Northern Ireland. It gave a brief description, revealing the names, dates of birth, and schools of the vanished children. Typically, thanks to advocacy, those letters have only a few names, but this recent executive callout shows a very scary practice coming down the line. One principal referred to the letter as a “tracer” letter, meant to find students who possibly enrolled in other places.
Twenty-four children recently graduated from Harryville Primary School in Ballymena. That’s the departure, but here’s the interesting question—where are they now. Mulholland’s great alarm is about the thousands of students whom the school system can’t account for. She called it “super alarming.”
Since the beginning of the current term, over 20 students have disappeared from a single school in County Antrim. This continuing frustratingly frustrating state has sparked much deserved outrage in the street. The EA is doing everything it can to find these students. Their commitment to the safety and protection of children is commendable.
“The safety and protection of children and young people is our absolute priority.” – EA spokesperson
The EA spokesperson further elaborated on the authority’s efforts to ensure that robust systems are in place for monitoring pupils’ attendance. They noted, “We work with schools and partner organisations to ensure that robust systems are in place to identify, record, and monitor pupils’ attendance.”
When students are chronically absent, the EA presses forward. Once all practical steps to find them have been taken, they interact with the ‘Child Missing in Education database. This database exchanges details with pupils’ schools and local educational authorities throughout the UK to verify when a pupil moves home.
As local commentators have noted, this number of unaccounted children is indicative of past and present injustices in this region. Jim Allister commented on the situation, stating, “The Education Authority’s own search for more than 50 children now demonstrates that my comments were accurate.” He implored that more needs to be done to investigate today’s enrolment numbers versus years past.
Allister highlighted demographic shifts in the area, noting, “that a significant amount of Roma families had moved from Ballymena.” This policy shift may be behind the surge in out of register pupils, which are numbered over the million mark. Local jurisdictions should take a closer look at these settlements.
Unrest and rioting broke out in Ballymena in June 2020. In turn, community leaders are calling for immediate steps to address them. The EA’s comprehensive list is part of an effort to ensure every child is accounted for and to assist schools in tracking their students’ enrollment status.
