Equality must be priority in new system
Monday October 19 2009
TWENTY years ago it would have been unthinkable -- the Department of Education asking the Bishops to name the schools they are willing to hand over to the State.
The response then would have been a very painful belt of the crozier.
But those days are gone and with them, the deferential attitude of the State to an organisation that has dominated Irish education for well over a century.
Ireland is unique in having so many primary schools that are essentially privately owned, even if the State is paying the teachers and most of the running costs. Unlike other countries, we don't have a State system of primary schools, apart from nine 'model schools' that are under the patronage of the Minister for Education, and two VEC-run pilot community national schools.
The letter sent by the secretary general of the department to the Catholic Church may have raised some Episcopal eyebrows for its simple demand of a list of schools to be handed over, but at least it has prompted the start of the negotiations.
Negotiations
They won't be easy or quick and, at the end of the day, the Catholic Church will continue to be a visible player, but one of many. It has recognised this reality and the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has led the charge for change.
It's probably easier to identify schools in the Dublin diocese that could be handed over than it is in other parts. That's partly because there are so many of them in Dublin.
It could be more difficult elsewhere, as one priest in a small town explained: "We have three Catholic primary schools in this parish," he said. "Am I supposed to go to parents of children in one of them and say: 'Sorry we're handing over this school to the State'?"
It's likely that the smaller number of Catholic schools will be much more clearly Catholic than some are at present. Dr Martin has rightly said they should not become elitist Catholic enclaves.
Whatever the outcome of the forthcoming negotiations, the department has to avoid the emergence of a two-tiered system whereby the Catholic schools are seen as more desirable.
The quality of educational provision for all pupils -- regardless of the school they attend -- should be the guiding principle.
- John Walshe
Irish Independent
