INTO CONFERENCE: Teachers shot in their classrooms, bombs and booby traps planted on school premises, and pupils stoned and doused with bags of urine, were among the harrowing stories Northern colleagues told the INTO conference yesterday.
The full horror of sectarian violence in Northern schools was brought home to the delegates by one west Belfast teacher, executive committee member Mr Gerry Ruddy, who was threatened at gunpoint in front of his class.
"It was in 1987. I was teaching my class when we heard a bit of a disturbance outside. The next thing the door flew open and a masked man appeared with a gun in his hand, another masked man stood behind him. The first man put a gun to my head and threatened to kill me."
Mr Ruddy said he told the masked men to leave classroom and that they were frightening the children. They ignored him and, continuing to hold the gun to his head, repeatedly asked his name.
"At which point one of my special needs kids stood up and said, 'that's not Mr Ruddy, it's Mr . . .' and he said the name of another teacher. The gunman was confused and the other masked man said they should go." Mr Ruddy said he then locked the door and began calming his class.
Mr Ruddy said his actions were what any teacher would have done in a class full of children and he said his situation was far from unique.
"Parents and pupils have been shot on the way to school. Pupils beaten because of their parents' political views. Children attacked for the uniform they wear."
The familiar "mess" of the sectarian violence at the Holy Cross school in the Ardoyne was "but the explosion of a volcanic hatred that had been bubbling away for the last 30 years".
Mr Ruddy said that when his incident occurred the trade union policy had been one of non-involvement. "I believe in retrospect that was wrong." However, "during the Holy Cross crisis the INTO acted I believe wisely and well. The wrong word can cause trouble and we worked both publicly and privately to diffuse tensions."
Mr Eddie Keenan, of the INTO Northern Committee, told delegates no one should be under the illusion that the problem of sectarian violence against pupils and teachers had been solved. "Let me tell you now that this is definitely not the case," he said. "Children in my own school have spent the night lying awake fearing their homes would be petrol bombed."
They also "had to wear hard hats when playing outside" because nuts and bolts were being fired into the school yard.
Mr Keenan said: "The INTO can rightly be proud of its leadership role at this time."
Not all delegates were impressed with the INTO's strategy. Mr John Mcanulty accused the union of "secret diplomacy". "Leadership is raising your voice in public and condemning what's wrong and the trade union movement didn't do that."
