Member

I will give the example of my parliamentary aide. She considered private school not because she thinks that her children are above anybody else, but because a case came through our office in Newtownards with an excerpt from a book that is highly offensive to the Christian, Muslim and Hindu faiths—indeed, to anyone of any faith. The parent was told that that book was used in the curriculum and that the school would not censor it. No one asked for censorship; they just asked for their child to be removed. That could not happen in mainstream schools. The parent was concerned that their child could be reading books that highlight the allures of pornography but not the problems of pornography. There is something seriously wrong when that happens in a school. In the end, that person settled for another school with the ethos of a welcoming Christian state school.