Long points to longstanding failure in education system

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 27th Jun 2002

"Anyone reading some of the sectarian comments of children as young as four years old contained in the new University of Ulster report 'Too Young to Notice' (25/6/02) must realise how far away Northern Ireland is from becoming a normal society free from sectarianism and tribalism."

"On the same page I read with interest the SDLP's latest idea to promote reconciliation - to incorporate the colour orange into its new logo. In a triumph of style over substance, all we get from the SDLP are silly gimmicks, rather than the production of sensible proposals which might actually solve the problems we face."

"For example, it is time that the SDLP followed Alliance's lead and called for the ending of sectarian apartheid in our schooling system, which sees 96 percent of children educated separately on the basis of their religion. It is little surprise that the UU report found that the views of our children become more firmly entrenched once they enter this segregated system."

"Integrating our children from nursery level up could actually result in a change in attitudes in our divided society; an orange squiggle will not."