Ministers were told of difficulty removing surplus school places, records show

The “sectoral nature” of education in Northern Ireland made it difficult to remove surplus school places in Northern Ireland, ministers were advised in 2002.

A first day brief drawn up by the Department of Education said there 35,800 surplus places in schools in 2001.

The file is one of more than 700 which has been released by the Public Record Office in Belfast.

The document, The Education Service in Northern Ireland, runs to more than 80 pages.

It stated: “During the 2000-2001 school year there were some 35,800 surplus places in schools in Northern Ireland – just over 23,600 places in the primary sector and 12,200 in the secondary sector.

“The figure represents an increase from 1999-00 when the equivalent figure was 34,400 places.”

The report said the bulk of the surplus places were in larger schools.

It adds: “The sectoral nature of the Northern Ireland education system makes action to remove surplus places difficult as it is necessary to retain schools of different types in areas to ensure equity of access.

“In addition, a significant proportion of the surplus places cannot sensibly be removed from the system – in most cases it is not practical to dispose of unused classrooms in an otherwise viable school.”

It goes on to say there were 340 primary schools in Northern Ireland with less than 100 pupils and 23 post-primary schools (14%) with less than 300 pupils.

The report adds: “The corresponding figures for GB are much lower, ie 18% of primary schools and 4% of post-primary schools.

“The rural nature of Northern Ireland and the structure of education here means that there will always be a significant number of small schools.”