West Belfast Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Education allowance should be extended to alternative education

Published: 28 November, 2009

Sinn Fein MLA Sue Ramsey has moved a motion in the assembly calling on the minster for employment and learning, Reg Empey, to extend the education maintenance allowance to students enrolled in alternative education.

"Restricting the education maintenance allowance (EMA) specifically to those enrolled in schools or colleges is a key factor which inhibits alternative education providers from reaching those young people who have disengaged from mainstream education," Ms Ramsey said in the assembly in October.

"Sinn Fein believes the department should make EMA accessible to all young people who comply with the age criterion and are engaged in appropriate provision, whether this is in schools or colleges or with a recognised alternative provider."

The department should engage with the alternative education providers to establish whether the attendance criteria regarding EMA are too prescriptive, Ms Ramsey said.

"The issue cuts across a number of departments and it is important that the DEL is willing to take the lead," she said.

"Access to the EMA is complex and confusing.

"The committee believes that widening access further will make things clearer.

"Since September, the Committee for Employment and Learning has engaged with several organisations that specialise in reaching young people who have disengaged from the school and college system. It received presentations from the Prince's Trust, Rathbone, the Alternative Education Providers' Forum, Include Youth and others.

"A common theme in those presentations was that there are few incentives for young people who have had the courage to come to them and admit that they need help.

"No one can deny that many of those young people have had a rough time but they have battled those difficulties and have stuck to a programme. They should be rewarded for that and EMA is just such a reward.

"There must be criteria for awarding EMA.

"We are asking that the criteria be reviewed to include programmes in which the focus is not always on re-entry to the formal school or college setting and in which work placements and learning skills in a less formal environment are more common.

"The young people's efforts should not be ignored just because they are pursuing an alternative route to employment and training."