Gay students will have their own school in Manchester
Local Government funds a project of the LGBT community. The specialist state school plans to take 40 full-time students, according to the British newspaper, The Guardian.
The Guardian · MANCHESTER · 16 JANUARY 2015 · 12:40 CET
The LGBT community has announced plans to create a special school for gay, lesbian and transgender pupils. The project will be funded with government money and could be ready within three years.
The state school will have 40 full-time students from across the North-West of England (mostly teenagers). Teachers will be members of LGBT movement.
“This is about saving lives,” Amelia Lee of LGBT Youth North West told The Guardian, the youth work charity behind the plans. “Despite the laws that claim to protect gay people from homophobic bullying, the truth is that in schools especially, bullying is still incredibly common and causes young people to feel isolated and alienated, which often leads to truanting and, in the worst-case scenarios, to suicide”, she added.
“This is not about making a little, safe enclave away from the real world: we work with 9,000 mainstream pupils and 1,000 teachers a year to help educate them about homosexuality. In addition, the support this new school will offer to part-time pupils could happen in their mainstream school, if that’s what they want”, said Lee.
PUBLIC MONEY
A £63,000 feasibility study into the plan is under way thanks to a grant from the Department for Communities and Local Government. The charity has also been involved in discussions with Manchester City Council about how it can provide an alternative education for LGBT children in the area.
A year at the school, which will be funded by the government, will cost £16,000, the same as other specialist schools. But LGBT groups claim that the charity is saving other council services about £1.3m through early intervention and support for struggling children.
Even the Council of Europe (which has 47 member states) welcomed the News on their Twitter saying this project helped “fight against bigotry”:
Report @guardian:#UK plan for 1st school for #LGBT pupils. http://t.co/HLCPAJkeUO #CoE fight against bigotry http://t.co/45mW7NmIuy
— Council of Europe (@coe) January 16, 2015
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