A PROPOSAL to integrate a rural secondary school in Co Fermanagh has been rejected by Education Minister Peter Weir.
St Mary's Brollagh, which is two miles from Belleek, currently has fewer than 70 pupils with a budget deficit of more than £1.8m last year.
It is set to close on August 31 "or as soon as possible thereafter".
Mr Weir said yesterday: "Despite the great efforts of people locally, it is clear to me that on a number of grounds the school is unsustainable and that discontinuation is ultimately in the best interests of local students."
The school had survived closure on three separate occasions since 2014.
Parents had supported integrated status, arguing that the school was an important facility in a deprived rural area and that pupils would be forced to travel even further on buses for their education if it closed.
However, the Education Authority, the Controlled Schools Support Council and the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education opposed the integration proposal, saying they were concerned at the effect it would have on the wider integrated sector.
The DUP minister said: "Having weighed up all the information, taking into account my statutory duty and noting all evidence including NICIE's concerns of its impact on the wider local integrated sector, I do not believe the case for transformation for change can be approved as it is not robust enough to justify."
Sinn Féin MLA Jemma Dolan, who is a former pupil of the school said she was angry at the closure announcement.
"Children and parents should be afforded the opportunity, if so wanted, to be educated locally instead of being put on crowded buses to be shipped to large towns.
"It is very frustrating for myself and all those who are fighting to keep the school open when we are continually ignored by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, the Education Authority and now the education minister.
"We all must continue to fight to ensure post primary education remains in our local area", she said.
