Efforts are underway to remove the so-called Baptism Barrier for access to primary schools.
The Education MinisterÂ’'s putting four options out for public consultation over the next three months to change the admissions process.
They include;
- A catchment area approach, prohibiting religious schools from giving preference to children of their own religion who live outside the catchment area ahead of non-religious children who live inside the catchment
- A ‘nearest school rule’, allowing religious schools to give preference to a religious child only where it is that child’s nearest school of that particular religion
- A quota system, which would allow a religious school give preference to children of its own religion in respect of only a certain proportion of places, meaning that the remaining places would be allocated based on other admissions criteria – proximity to the school, lottery etc.
- An outright prohibition on religious schools using religion as a factor in admissions, meaning that all places would be allocated based on other factors. Within this approach, there is capacity to allow religious schools to require parents or students to indicate some support or respect for the ethos of the school.
EQUATE, which campaigns for equality in access to education, says it is only in favour of prohibiting the use of religion as a criteria for admission.
EQUATE Director, Michael Barron said, "We are happy to see the Minister make a firm commitment to resolve the issue of the Baptism Barrier. There can be no doubt that momentum has been building for some time for reform of a system which allows schools to select students based on their religion.
"The Minister outlines four possibilities for ending the reform and intends consulting with stakeholders over the next 12 weeks. We look forward to being part of those consultations and to continuing to affirm that the solution which would allow for equal access lies in an amendment to the Equal Status Act.
"Families should not have to fear having a non-baptised child in order to gain entry nor should they have to sign up to a belief system that is not their own."
Juliette Gash reports;
Catholic think tank, the Iona Institute says Minister Richard Bruton has an attitude of hostility to the Catholic Church.
Iona Institute Director, David Quinn, stated: “There are certainly too many Catholics schools in Ireland and this must change because Ireland is changing. The right of Catholic and other faith schools to automatically prefer children of their own faith over children of other faiths and none, in the event of over-subscription, is something that can be amended. However, the speech by Minister Bruton, in which he flags this proposal, is only the latest in a series of moves by this Government and the last which are seeking to severely limit the rights of faith schools”.
Atheist Ireland has also reacted to the plans.
Chairman of Atheist Ireland, Michael Nugent, pictured above on the left, says;
"What seems to be the best of the four options in the plan, removing the Baptism rule completely, is actually the worst, as the Minister says that “Under this last option religious schools could require parents or students to indicate support for the school’s religious ethos.”
"So removing the Baptism rule completely would mean that minority belief parents must support the evangelising of their children into the Catholic faith. It would merely give children of minority belief families equal access to being discriminated against within the schools, which is where the real problem is, and would give the Catholic Church access to more minority belief children to evangelise into Catholicism.
The other three of the Minister’s discussion options (catchment area, nearest school and quotas) would merely fine-tune the religious discrimination in access, and would still result in children being refused access to their local school because of the religious or nonreligious beliefs of their parents."
