Change in ‘archaic’ rule on religious teaching sought Rule 68 decrees ‘religious spirit should inform and vivify whole work of school’ Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan is seeking to amend a 50-year-old directive to primary schools which states that religious instruction is “by far the most important” part of the curriculum. She believes “the language and tone of rule 68 is archaic and doesn’t reflect the reality of today’s primary education sector”, her department said. The Minister, however, has stopped short of ordering the deletion of the rule as recommended by an advisory group on patronage and pluralism. In its 2012 report, the group chaired by Professor John Coolahan said “as a first step” towards updating the rules for national schools “rule 68 should be deleted as soon as possible”. The rule states: “Of all the parts of a school curriculum Religious Instruction is by far the most important, as its subject-matter, God’s honour and service, includes the proper use of all man’s faculties, and affords the most powerful inducements to their proper use. “Religious Instruction is, therefore, a fundamental part of the school course, and a religious spirit should inform and vivify the whole work of the school.” While accepting the thrust of the forum report, former minister Ruairí Quinn chose to leave rule 68 in place, emphasising the need to broaden religious education beyond denominational interests. Ms O’Sullivan said she had now asked her officials “to consider how best to progress the particular recommendation relating to rule 68 in the context of the ongoing implementation of the forum report recommendations”. There have been fresh calls for the deletion of the rule with the start of the school term. The campaign group Atheist Ireland has compiled a number of complaints from parents about inadequate opt-out procedures for children who have no choice, for geographic reasons, but to attend a Catholic school. irishtimes/news/education/change-in-archaic-rule-on-religious-teaching-sought-1.1939144
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 21:42:01 +0000
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