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| NI pupils sitting transfer test | |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| More than 15,000 NI children are sitting the first exam in this year's 11-plus transfer test. | |
| The test is causing controversy because some people accuse the government of using it and academic selection as bargaining tools in politics. | The test is causing controversy because some people accuse the government of using it and academic selection as bargaining tools in politics. |
| The government says academic selection will not be banned after 2008 if the assembly gets back to work soon. | The government says academic selection will not be banned after 2008 if the assembly gets back to work soon. |
| In most areas about three-quarters of primary seven children will sit the test. | In most areas about three-quarters of primary seven children will sit the test. |
| Scrap | Scrap |
| However, in the Southern Board area, where some schools operate without the 11-plus, under the Dickson Plan only half the pupils will do the test. | However, in the Southern Board area, where some schools operate without the 11-plus, under the Dickson Plan only half the pupils will do the test. |
| The government plans to scrap the current 11-plus transfer test in two years time. | The government plans to scrap the current 11-plus transfer test in two years time. |
| However, as a concession to the DUP at the Saint Andrews talks in October, it was agreed that a new assembly could keep some form of academic selection. | However, as a concession to the DUP at the Saint Andrews talks in October, it was agreed that a new assembly could keep some form of academic selection. |
| Plans to drop the 11-plus were first put in motion by Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness when he was education minister and have been followed through by direct rule ministers since. | Plans to drop the 11-plus were first put in motion by Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness when he was education minister and have been followed through by direct rule ministers since. |