Role of religion in our schools
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Thursday August 28 2008
CHURCH leaders have, in the recent past, said they are happy to reduce the number of primary schools under their control from the present high levels. Nine out of 10 primary schools are operated by the Catholic Church and funded by the Department of Education, that is, the taxpayer.
The Church's problem, as expressed by Dr Leo O'Reilly, centres on the provision of new primary schools, not the status of existing ones. Some new schools should be Catholic, he argues. A pluralist Ireland must include denominational primary schools.
The teachers disagree. They believe all pupils can be catered for in multi-denominational schools.
There are pros and cons on both sides.
If the taxpayer is to fund Catholic schools, then why not Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, even humanist schools? The country simply could not afford this. On the other hand, how will multiple religious instruction be provided? Are classes to be disrupted as pupils are segregated and troop off to different rooms?
Will such clumsy procedure lead to religion, all religion, simply being abandoned?
Two new community national schools which will open in the Dublin area next Monday are the first of the new, multi-denominational model favoured by teachers' union INTO and by Government.
The awkward truth is that this is a fundamental difference in opinion about the future of Irish society itself, since the primary education system sows the seeds from which society will grow.
As such, it must be raised above the level of megaphone diplomacy to reasoned debate on a national level.
For the nature of primary education in the decades to come is a matter of national importance. It is a political and social issue as well as an educational and doctrinal issue.
Although the economic downturn has slowed, the number of people coming here to work -- tens of thousands, most of them young men and women -- has not
The challenges for the primary education system are self-evident. The Department of Education has, so far, distanced itself from a fundamental dispute which is now heating up.
The department has a duty to bring clarity to the situation.
The best way forward may lie in direct dialogue between the teachers and the bishops, with a proactive Department of Education acting as facilitator.
