The campaign to keep open the Woodlands Speech and Language Unit at Belmont House School in Derry is to take to the streets of the city next week.
A protest rally will take place in Guildhall Square at 1.00pm on Saturday week, 19 October.
There has been outage in a number of quarters since Education Minister John O’Dowd announced last month that the specialised unit was to close as a result of an amalgamation with Foyleview School in a project costing in the region of £7.5 million.
Mr O’Dowd said the amalgamation was to go ahead despite opposition from parents and politicians.
Mr O’Dowd announced three new speech and language units would be built in mainstream primary schools across the North West, a move he said would promote inclusion in education.
The specialist units are to be built in St Anne’s Primary School, Rosemount, Ebrington Primary School and Ballykelly Primary School.
Speaking at the time of the announcement, SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey said “appalled” by the decision despite “wide-ranging and prevalent” opposition to the proposal from every section of the community.”
He added: “I cannot comprehend how the Minister could come to such a decision in the face of overwhelming and tangible evidence that the in-house facility at Belmont was giving new hope to parents and children who have speech and language difficulties.”
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