Susan Gately
The Department of Education circular introducing new rules insisting that schools provide alternative tuition for students who wish to opt out of religious instruction will have the effect of making religion an optional subject, and place huge additional pressures on state schools, according to the Chief Executive of the Cork Education and Training Board, Timothy Owens.
Announcing the new rules, Education Minister, Richard Bruton said no new resources or funding would be available to schools which would have to “reconfigure their timetabling”. The rules apply to 160,000 students of community colleges under the patronage of the Education and Training Boards (ETB).
The crux of the problem, said Mr Owens, is what the alternative to Religious Education might be. It will probably become an “optional subject in a package of subjects. It’s going to cause great timetabling difficulties. Every school will be different,” he told The Irish Catholic.
Exam subject
Under the Deeds of Trust (or Model Agreements) of community colleges, school patronage is shared between the ETB and the diocese / religious order of an area. The Deeds provide for two hours a week of religion. While Religion can be an exam subject at both Junior and Senior Cycle, in practise it is not available in most State schools.
Dr John Murray, lecturer in moral theology in DCU, is concerned that the “area of religion would be neglected in these schools in order to solve the so-called problem of diversity of students in the classroom”.
If it is left off the curriculum and forgotten, “students would be deprived of an important part of education. Religion should be an important part of any rounded education – culturally and historically, and for many students it could be personally helpful as well.”