A REPORT by the Irish Human Rights Commission has said changes in the law are needed to protect the rights of children of no or minority faith in denominational Irish schools.
IHRC president Maurice Manning said that over the past two years there had been an increase in inquiries and requests for legal assistance in relation to complaints from parents of minority faith and none about their children’s education.
Instead of going down the "legal route" the IHRC held a conference last November and then launched a consultation process. The commission received 60 submissions, which are set out in the report Religion and Education: a Human Rights Perspective.
The report contains 13 recommendations and it points out that significant changes would have to be made to the current denominational modes in order to meet human rights standards.
IHRC commissioner, Professor William Binchy, said they wanted the Government to introduce structural reforms to protect children of minority or no faith in schools, including changes to the Education Act 1998 and to the rules of national schools.
"We recommend that where diverse provision of education does not exist in a school’s catchment area, consideration be given to moving formal religion classes to the start or end of the school day," he said.
The commission also recommends that patrons in schools funded by the state should remain sensitive to the impact that the manifestation of religious beliefs may have on those with different beliefs.
The report calls for the amendment of Employment Equality Acts to ensure respect for the private life of teachers.
Later this year, the state will have its human rights recorded by the United Nations and the IHRC has submitted its report as Ireland’s nation human rights institution to the UN.
Dr Manning said the Government could head off criticism at the UN session in Geneva by giving a voluntary commitment to implementation recommendations in the report.
Prof Binchy said the state must take sufficient care that information and knowledge included in the school curriculum is conveyed in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner.
Instead of going down the "legal route" the IHRC held a conference last November and then launched a consultation process. The commission received 60 submissions, which are set out in the report Religion and Education: a Human Rights Perspective.
The report contains 13 recommendations and it points out that significant changes would have to be made to the current denominational modes in order to meet human rights standards.
IHRC commissioner, Professor William Binchy, said they wanted the Government to introduce structural reforms to protect children of minority or no faith in schools, including changes to the Education Act 1998 and to the rules of national schools.
"We recommend that where diverse provision of education does not exist in a school’s catchment area, consideration be given to moving formal religion classes to the start or end of the school day," he said.
The commission also recommends that patrons in schools funded by the state should remain sensitive to the impact that the manifestation of religious beliefs may have on those with different beliefs.
The report calls for the amendment of Employment Equality Acts to ensure respect for the private life of teachers.
Later this year, the state will have its human rights recorded by the United Nations and the IHRC has submitted its report as Ireland’s nation human rights institution to the UN.
Dr Manning said the Government could head off criticism at the UN session in Geneva by giving a voluntary commitment to implementation recommendations in the report.
Prof Binchy said the state must take sufficient care that information and knowledge included in the school curriculum is conveyed in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner.
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