A £1.9 million funding package going exclusively to integrated schools in the North has been described as “bias” and disregards “the current emergency crisis within our education system”.

Aontú’s Gemma Brolly, who is a teacher based in Derry, said that while her party support integrated education as a choice for parents, they should not be prioritised for funding.

Mrs Brolly said the intent of the bill is to place integrated education “top of the pecking order”.

Before quitting as Northern Ireland Secretary of State last week, Brandon Lewis announced the integrated education funding package. He said that, “Seeing greater integration of education across Northern Ireland is an absolute priority for me” and “My hope is that integration will soon become the norm and not the exception in schools across Northern Ireland”.

Mrs Brolly said: “With undervalued staff on the brink of strike, underpay, endless damning reports, waiting lists and under resourced schools, surely the priority of the Secretary of State, every governing body and representative should be to repair our education system in its entirety?

“That is what we in Aontú will prioritise in education. We need inclusive and beneficial education for all. That is what we have worked for and what we will continue to work to achieve.”