FF backs multi-faith primary schools [IrishTimes]
- Published: 27 June 2011
THE OBJECTIVES of multi-faith understanding and social harmony “are best served by children of all faiths and none learning together”, the Fianna Fáil party has said in submission to the forum on patronage and pluralism in the primary sector.
The document was presented to party members at a conference on education in Birr, Co Offaly, yesterday. “We appreciate that some parents do not want their children to undergo faith formation in any one creed at school. At the same time, we recognise that other parents view faith formation as a vital part of their child’s education. We believe that it is possible, and desirable, for both of these perspectives to be respected and accommodated in the one school,” it said.
It continued that “this philosophy underpinned the announcement of a new pilot patronage model, the community national school, by the then minister for education and science, Mary Hanafin TD, in 2007.” The model had been piloted in five locations.
In the new community national schools, “children of different faiths are taught together for most of the school day. All children take part as one group in a multi-belief programme that enables them to learn about all faiths and grow to understand each other’s beliefs.
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