When the new school year began four weeks ago, no-one could have predicted the wave of violent incidents against pupils and property which has occurred across Northern Ireland.
During this relatively short period, schools have been caught up in the dissident republican campaign of intimidation against members of District Policing Partnerships and there have been the depressingly familiar sectarian incidents which have caused widespread disruption, fear and trauma.
Matters have escalated in north Belfast in recent days with a pipe bomb planted outside Dominican College on Thursday night – fatuously described by UPRG spokesman Sammy Duddy as 'schoolboy antics' -– and the next day a stone-throwing onslaught on two buses resulted in 11 pupils from the Girls' Model School being taken to hospital.
The area where this despicable attack took place – on the Crumlin Road near Twaddell Avenue – is a volatile sectarian interface and the justifiably angry parents of the young girls are naturally demanding increased security for school buses.
However, such is the dangerously warped logic of those steeped in bigotry and hatred that an attack on Protestant schoolchildren demands a response against a Catholic school.
Yesterday (Monday), two arsonists walked through the gates of Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School and systematically set fire to a number of cars belonging to staff members.
Such an attack, on a school in a vulnerable area which has been targeted in a similar way in the past, is designed to terrorise teachers, students and parents.
Hopefully, CCTV cameras will ensure that the unmasked thugs responsible for this outrage will be swiftly apprehended.
Tackling the deepseated sectarianism which drives people to regard schools and children as targets will be much more problematic.
In any normal society, schools, along with churches and hospitals, are seen as sacrosanct.
Unfortunately, in our society there are people whose intolerance, distrust and hatred extend to children and teachers, who are not to blame for sectarian tensions in north Belfast.
There is no doubt that the present serious situation has the potential to escalate. This must not be allowed to happen.
Community leaders and elected representatives must do everything possible to defuse tensions now.
The wider community must demand that all schools are regarded as no-go areas for the small element intent on violence and destruction.
All children are entitled to be educated in a calm and safe atmosphere and no-one has the right to introduce hostility, aggression and fear to our schools.
