ONCE again, Fermanagh finds itself at the back of the queue.
As the only county in Northern Ireland not to have a Special Educational Needs (SEN) post-primary unit to support those most in need, we find ourselves with an educational time bomb ticking as many vulnerable pupils – children who are in dire need of support – are denied it.
This means generations of pupils are slipping through the net at a huge social and emotional cost, as an overstretched mainstream education sector tries to struggle with ever-tightening budgets to accommodate their very specific learning needs and essential life skills.
It’s hard not to be sceptical, but as things stand, this sector of education – a right quagmire if ever there was one – is due for one of its many overhauls in the form of a new SEN framework.