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BBC School Report
From Monday 26th March, Paible School are holding an Anti-Sectarianism Week. This will tie in with a Scottish Executive Initiative pledge to battle anti-sectarianism, which Jack McConnell called ‘The Disease of Scotland’.
Joining them will be pupils from Daliburgh School and Lionacleit pipe band. It is hoped the week will raise awareness of anti-sectarianism with staff and pupils. The school was awarded £3000 funding from the Scottish Executive to have their Anti-Sectarianism week.
There will be a ceilidh on Wednesday morning where pupils from Daliburgh School will join them. They will sing songs together such as ‘Will You Walk on by’ by Donnie Monro (Runrig) who was delighted to help. They will also be singing the chorus in Gaelic. Lionacleit Pipe Band will also attend along with invited members of the public.
The pupils will be put into groups to enjoy art and drama workshops, games, meeting with Daliburgh school pupils, having a Ceilidh, pipe band and other activities. They will also be learning about sectarianism in Scotland and the history behind it.
Sectarianism isn’t a huge problem in the Uists but there is a defined split in the middle of the Uist with North Uist being mainly Protestant and Rangers football club supporters with South Uist being mainly Catholics and Celtic football club supporters.
Ian Bramwell, a social subject’s teacher who covers both North and South Uist, spoke of how the split in the Uists happened. ” Uist was originally a Catholic Island but in 1560 everyone became Protestant. Then in 1629 missionaries from the Catholic Church of Rome came over to Uist to try and convert everyone back to Catholicism. They started in the South and headed up North but had to return home because the North Uist clan chief was Protestant so he rebelled against them, even now from the middle of Benbecula going South people are predominantly Catholic and the North half are predominantly Protestant.”
As Daliburgh pupils are from South Uist and mainly Catholic and Paible pupils are mainly Protestant, teachers hope that this will bring everyone together.
By Eva and Ann S2y
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