Healing a broken country: the inter-faith education experiment in northern Ireland

UnrestrictedSocial segregation in Northern Ireland permeates nearly every aspect of life from neighborhoods and shopping centers to hospitals and schools.; Protestants loyal to Great Britain and Irish Catholics spent more than 30 years fighting over political and social power in the period known as the Troubles. In 1998, both sides signed what is known as the Good Friday Agreement to try and end the violence. Ten years later, the bombs have stopped falling, but segregation is still deeply rooted in Northern Irish society.; Nearly 95 percent of children in Northern Ireland attend a school that is predominantly Protestant or Catholic and rarely have the chance to mix and meet people from the other religion. The Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education believes that bringing school children together to teach them about difference will finally end the segregation that has ripped this small country in two. This radio documentary tells their story