Funding for cycling proficiency in Northern Ireland schools to be cut

A course that teaches children how to ride bicycles safely in Northern Ireland schools in no longer affordable - according to the government department that pays for it.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI), which is responsible for cycling proficiency in Northern Ireland, has said it cannot fund the safety course.

Cycling proficiency, sometimes called 'bikeability', is taught in many UK schools - It teaches children, who can already ride a bike, how to do so more safely; including what protective gear to wear and the rules of the road.

Instead, schools in Northern Ireland will have to pay cycling instructors themselves if they want to continue the scheme.

Speaking to the BBC in Northern Ireland, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) said it has spending restrictions which means it cannot keep paying instructors or school teachers to deliver the cycling lessons.

And schools, who were planning to run cycling proficiency classes between Easter and the end of the school year, have been told that those courses will no longer be paid for by the DfI either.

The department said: "The cycling proficiency scheme is delivered by teaching staff in schools, who receive payment from the department for doing so."

"Due to budget constraints, we are not currently in a position to fund this payment to teachers."

Despite saying it would no longer fund the courses and instructors, The DfI has said it will continue to provide training for teachers wanting to deliver cycling safety lessons themselves.

The cycling proficiency course involves 12 weeks of lessons and is aimed at children in the older years of primary school.

The scheme has been running in schools in Northern Ireland for more than 50 years, training more than half a million children during that time.

School headteachers have until Friday 21 April to inform the department if they plan to continue to run cycling proficiency classes before the end of the 2022/23 school year.

Kevin Donaghy, principal of St Ronan's Primary School in Newry, said: "It's a huge thing in the summer term for Primary Seven and at the minute we don't know whether or not it's actually going to go ahead."

"The kids loved it, they actually got a qualification at the end of it to say they were safe to ride on the road.