Teachers seek end to faith rule [Independent.ie]
- Published: 24 June 2011
A RULE requiring that a "religious spirit" runs through all the work done in primary schools should be dropped, education leaders said yesterday.
The calls were voiced at the Forum on Pluralism and Patronage in the Primary Sector, which is looking at ways of creating greater choice in schools.
The forum is examining how the system can provide a diverse number and range of primary schools catering for all religions and none.
Its work includes finding a process for the handover of some of the 90pc of Catholic schools to other patron bodies.
The central role of religion in primary schools was a major topic at the forum yesterday, the second of three days of public hearings.
There were calls for the abolition of Rule 68 in the Rules for National Schools, which dates back to the 1920s, prescribing that a "religious spirit should inform and vivify the whole work of the school".
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