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Appalling difficulties faced by parents in getting
appropriate education for their children - 1st
July 2003
Complete rethink of Department procedures necessary.
Thousands of families in Ireland are being forced
to send there children to schools which they feel do not respect
or cherish their social, cultural or religious backgrounds.
This is in direct contravention of the Irish Constitution,
article 42 section 3;
“The State shall provide for free primary education
and shall endeavour to supplement and give reasonable aid to private
and corporate educational initiative, and, when the public good
requires it, provide other educational facilities or institutions
with due regard, however, for the rights of parents, especially
in the matter of religious and moral formation.”
This Thursday July the 3rd Educate Together, who
represent these families has been invited to address the Oireachtas
Joint Committee on Education and Science at 11am at Leister House.
Educate Together will address the committee on two
issues:-
- The increasing human rights and legal liability
for the state in its policy of re-enforcing an overwhelming
monopoly of denominational provision at a time of accelerating
social change.
- The weakness of the current mechanism whereby
new schools are planned for, created and developed.
In response to these issues Educate Together’s
proposal is for all parties to agree with the following measures:-
- That the state prioritises supports for school
providers who undertake to open and operate schools that work
under a legal commitment to respect and cherish the indentity
of all children irrespective of their social, cultural or religious
backgrounds and are prepared to submit their operational practices
and procedures to independent review by such statutory bodies
as the Equality Authority.
- The establishment of a high level task force
within the Department to address this issue.
- The Planning Section of the Department to work
with providers to ensure that no family in the state has to
travel more than 30 minutes in the morning to access a school
that cherishes their identity. The allocation of funds to this
programme via the National Development Plan.
A full copy of the presentation plus spokespeople
are available on request
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