School leaders in West Belfast said many children were missing from classrooms today after some families were forcibly evicted from their homes the previous night by angry mobs. In a letter to parents and carers, they said the disruption had left some children trying to find somewhere else to stay, while others stayed away because their parents and guardians were too afraid to send them in.
The letter came after a terrible stabbing incident in north Belfast earlier in the week, which the school leaders described as shocking. They said the thoughts and prayers of everyone in their school communities were with the victim and his family and friends, but added that the unrest that followed had now spilled into daily life for children who should have been in class.
That is why the issue is being searched now: the effect was immediate, visible in attendance, and tied to homes being targeted because of the colour of residents' skin. School leaders said all children have a right to be educated and to live free from violence and intimidation, and that there could be no equivocation nor justification for the actions that drove families from their homes.
The friction is that the damage is already done while the number of families affected remains unclear. Some children were not in school because they were searching for alternative accommodation after the evictions; others were kept away by fear. Both groups point to the same thing — a community trying to keep children safe while disorder keeps pushing them further from routine.
School leaders said they hoped and prayed that people in positions of leadership would help ensure all children could return to school as soon as possible. For now, the unanswered question is how quickly that can happen for families who spent the night under threat and woke to find school attendance had become one more casualty of the violence.
