thern Ireland are dissatisfied with their housing as opposed to 7% of Protestants. This figure indicates that housing, though still a matter for concern in the North, is a less urgent issue than it was in the 1970’s. Another area of discrimination in Northern Ireland is that of education. According to a SCOPE report over half of the population of Northern Ireland is operating at the two lowest levels of literacy. It is unsurprising that Catholics have greater literacy problems than Protestants and that there is a close correlation between literacy and employment. The educational systems -like most systems in Northern Ireland- is sectarian, with almost all children attending single identity schools. The first integrated school for children from both Catholic and Protestant backgrounds was opened in 1981. Today there are more than thirty of these schools in the North. There aim is to introduce children to each others cultural and religious difference earlier in life. By these means they intend to lessen the suspicion and hostility between the two groups in later generations. Although only 3% of children in the North attend these schools they have taken on an incredibly important role in renovating the current education system. Due to the influence of these new schools other segregated schools have been encouraged to set up integration programmes within their own curriculum and children have been educated in the way of life of those with which they would not necessarily otherwise associate. Due to the hard work and through the dedication of parents and teachers who wished to tackle the misunderstanding and rift between the two communities, programmes were set up within schools in order to increase understanding among children and young people. Amongst these were Cultural Heritage, Mutual Understanding and Contact programmes. These were a mandatory part of every schoolchild’s curriculum. Whereas before 1990 completely differen...
