ALMOST £1 million allocated to an Executive-led shared education project has been spent on teacher cover.
It has been revealed that since 2014 almost a third of the money designated to the Delivering Social Change Shared Education Signature Project has gone towards substitutes.
As well as £954,687 being diverted to cover a further £382,850 has been spent on administration and support roles.
The total spend to the end of September on the project is about £3m.
The £25m Shared Education Signature Project was created under The Delivering Social Change framework, established to tackle poverty and social exclusion.
It was designed to create "a more cohesive education system" in which children from different community backgrounds can be educated together.
There are 314 schools and 34,000 pupils engaged, many involved in several shared classes.
In 2014/15 £31,000 of the project's budget went towards teacher cover, but this figure rose dramatically to £472,000 in 2015/16 and is estimated to be around £450,000 in this financial year.
The Department for Education was asked to explain why such a high proportion was spent on teacher cover.
"Teacher sub-cover allows schools to co-ordinate and plan for delivery with their partner school(s); align timetables to facilitate shared classes with their partner school(s); enable joint delivery of shared classes in partner school(s); where appropriate, accompany pupils on shared education activities; and undertake professional development to ensure delivery of high quality shared education," a spokeswoman said.
"Professional development is to build capacity within the education system, as schools and teachers gain experience, the cost is expected to reduce.
"The level of sub-cover is not a result of budgetary pressures on school budgets. Rather it relates to funding for planned activities within the Shared Education project and is in line with the project's remit. The funding relates to specific shared education activities and is funded from within the £25m Shared Education Signature Project budget."
The figures were released by education minister Peter Weir following an assembly question from Alliance Party's Kellie Armstrong.
She said it was important to "promote any programmes which bring together children of different faiths and none".
"Children learning side by side every day is the preferred model, but shared education also has its role to play in helping create a truly shared future. But due to budgetary pressures going forward, the minister needs to tell the education sector whether the project is high on his priority list," she added.
