The enormous political upheaval and uncertainly that has emerged since the UK’s recent EU referendum has posed a particular challenge for Accord’s efforts to make the educational landscape less discriminatory. The last ten days have witnessed three different Shadow Education Secretaries, while David Cameron’s successor as Prime Minister may soon appoint different Department for Education Ministers.
Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, said ‘It will be easy over the months ahead for political leaders to neglect domestic issues whilst much of their time and energy is diverted towards internal Party questions and, more broadly, the UK’s relationship with the rest of Europe. However, the current political turbulence, combined with the divisions in society that have been exposed by the referendum, only reinforce the importance of preventing schools segregating and dividing the children between those who attend and those who are excluded.
‘We look forward – once some of the dust has settled – to meeting with policy makers across Westminster to affirm the importance of unlocking schools enormous potential to better promote the growth of mutual understating, trust and integration. It is vital for the health and well-being of society that these issues should not be ignored at the current time, but recognised and acted upon.’
