We should learn a valuable lesson from the baptism barrier and take it down – with no exemptions
MY NEW year’s wish is that new legislation to dismantle the baptism barrier – a radical and long overdue development in education – is enacted in 2018 before some political accident or other collapses the Dáil.
I also hope Fianna Fáil isn’t persuaded by vested interests in the Catholic Church to water down the education bill, which tackles a wrong in Irish society. The party has yet to state its position on the projected legislation. However, there appears to be broad political agreement that change is needed.
Under the present system, one-in-five State primary schools is free to tell parents their child won’t be enrolled unless he or she is baptised as a Catholic – surely an infringement of a citizen’s rights.
But if Richard Bruton’s Education (Admissions to Schools) Bill goes through, it will do important work in continuing the process of separating Church and State in education.
Currently, oversubscribed schools operate with an exemption – licence to discriminate. That’s 20pc of the total. So, schools run with public money are legally entitled to tell children they aren’t acceptable. The ethos is controlled by boards of management which set admission policies.
Catholic schools account for 90pc of all primary schools in the State. Of the remainder, 6pc are minority faiths and 4pc are multi-denominational.
Consequently, our taxes are used to give the Catholic Church a privileged position in control of education.
Let me give you an example of how the baptism barrier affects parents. A young Dublin mother I know lives conveniently close to a primary school – a short walk away for her and her two children. In any normal society, where Church and State were separate, she’d be free to send her son and daughter to that local school.
But this particular school has a Catholic ethos, and is free to reject applicants who have not been baptised. It is a national school, with teachers’ salaries and running costs paid for by taxpayers, but right now it is allowed to practise religious discrimination against children.
The mother (who asked not to be named) has been told that her daughter, who should start school in September, does not meet the selection criteria. The baptism barrier has been raised against her little girl. She says staff have told her informally that her daughter would be admitted if she just went ahead and baptised her.
Some parents are keen to have their children baptised, of course. Others have felt obliged to go through with it simply to ensure a place in the local school. But this mother doesn’t see why she should be forced to act against her conscience.
“This is a human rights issue,” she says. “It’s unjust, and for too long people have been turning a blind eye.” It means she has been obliged to look farther afield for a school – even though she can see the local one from her house. While the proposed legislation gives her hope, it may be implemented too late for her daughter.
No State-funded school should have the right to inquire into a child’s religious background, let alone use it as an entry requirement and a means of practising discrimination.
I have no difficulty with schools operating with a religious ethos. But not if that philosophy is subsidised by our taxes. They ought to be run as private schools.
Mr Bruton is to be congratulated for his courage in taking steps to reform the system. Previous education ministers have wrung their hands over it, but left the injustice unaddressed.
The changes mean that for the first time in Ireland, non-religious families – who account for almost 10pc of the population – will be able now to access their local State primary school on the same basis as other citizens. Incidentally, when you drill down into the figures and exclude citizens outside age categories with primary school children, the non-religious percentage is close to 20pc.
Mr Bruton is on the record as saying: “I … believe that it is unfair that some parents, who might otherwise not do so, feel pressure to baptise their children in order to gain admission to their local school.”
The Department of Education is optimistic that the legislation will be added to the statute books in 2018.
It notes that the Dáil, including the Government parties and Fianna Fáil, has voted in favour of separation.
It’s a human rights issue. For too long, people have been turning a blind eye
On reflection, what’s exceptional is not that policy is finally changing, but that our policymakers allowed baptism to be used as an entry qualification for so long.
The classroom should be a place where children learn tolerance and inclusivity – but if a school shows no tolerance for multiculturalism, and excludes those who are different, how can it teach open-mindedness?
To date, policy is behaving like an ass because oversubscribed schools are where discrimination is likeliest to happen. Under-subscribed schools need to bulk up their numbers and take pupils from a variety
of backgrounds, but oversubscribed schools have the luxury of singling out some, while showing prejudice to others.
In practice, it means publicly funded schools have been free to give preference to children of their own religion living some distance away, ahead of children of a different or no religion living close by.
I have one quibble with the bill. Under the proposed legislation, a continuing exemption for minority schools is allowed – Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Jewish and Muslim – on the basis they otherwise run the risk of being swamped by Catholic applicants and would lose their ethos.
While this applies to just 6pc, or 191 out of 3,123 primary schools, it does flout the separation of Church and State principle. The Church of Ireland is the largest beneficiary of the exemption, with 168 primary schools.
One rule for everyone in the publicly funded education sector ought to be a given. Any exemptions have the effect of legalising discrimination – something to which the State should never be party.
Mr Bruton defends his decision on the basis of balancing rights. He has said: “I am seeking to be fair to all parents, while recognising the right of all schools to have their distinctive ethos.”
While his legislation is a good start, and signals a new direction, I’m not convinced there should be any exemptions. Surely it’s up to the family to establish an ethos, and not the school? Or to put it another way, what does religion have to do with schooling?