Humanist Association of Ireland statement re Religious Education Reference Group

expectationlost

Humanist Association of Ireland

Children from families with no religious belief continue to be discriminated against through the compulsory delivery of religious instruction in our schools.

The Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI) has protested about an education reform initiative, the VEC pilot national schools project, over its failure to properly address the plight of families with no religious belief.

The Board chose to remain on the Religious Education Reference Group (RERG), which oversees the pilot, last year despite its fundamental disagreement with the inclusion of religious instruction as mandated by Mary Hanafin during her tenure as Minister for Education, remaining with the intention of keeping issues important to non-religious parents to the fore.

In a letter to the Chairperson of the Humanists have made it clear that their withdrawal from the RERG at this time follows the misrepresentation of their views on the national schools pilot programme on religious instruction.

The Board also wrote to Án Tánaiste, Mary Coughlan, in November 2010 stating;

“The HAI has been represented on the Religious Education Reference Group for some time and we have made our concerns known. It has been made clear to us that these changes are not possible without reference to your Department.

It seems that the VEC Pilot Schools are taking a backward step in this matter, and a step that seems totally inappropriate for a modern democratic republic in the 21st century.

We would like to meet you to discuss this further and await your early response with a view to setting up this meeting”.

The request was rejected.

as usual extremely vague, anyone have any idea what they are talking about

recedite

Not really, but there seems to be a turf war developing between Educate Together and the VEC schools, and it may have something to do with that?
Up till recently ET operated secular primary schools, and VEC operated secular secondary schools, but now they are both competing for control of schools at both levels.
Its like seeing jackals and vultures squabbling at the bloated corpse of a buffalo.

expectationlost

don't think so i think its to do with humanist and continuing religious control of vecs