PARENTS along the Donegal border who send their children to schools in the North may be entitled to do so legally after an announcement by the Education Minister there.
It’s though more than 200 children from Co Donegal attend secondary schools in Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh.
In Derry the practice has been dubbed ‘grannying’ where pupils living south of the border use addresses of relatives to claim residency rights in the North, and therefore a right to a place at a school.
In many cases it suits the families of the children because of the proximity to the school; in others it involves families of people who are originally from the North.
Northern Education Minister John O’Dowd has asked for a survey of parents living along the border corridor.
Party colleague Chris Hazzard told Donegal Daily: “Families living along the border corridor will now have an opportunity to state if they would prefer their child to go to their nearest school even if this is on the opposite side of the border from where they live.
“This will be particularly relevant in rural border areas where they may be only a couple of schools close to each other but have little or no contact at present.
“I will be urging all parents with children at school along the border area to participate in the survey so that we can build better relationships and outcomes for all of our children along the border corridor.”
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