Row over RC schools centenary
PLANS to celebrate 100 years of state-funded Catholic education in Glasgow have been slammed.
The city’s Lord Provost Eva Bolander will host a civic reception this year to mark the centenary of the Education (Scotland) Act 1918, which introduced public funding to Catholic schools.
Church bosses have welcomed the move, insisting that faith schools are good for Scotland.
But campaign group the Scottish Secular Society have hit out at the move, claiming Catholic schools should be scrapped.
John Duncan, vice chairman of the group, said: “Dividing children based on the religious views of their parents is a sure-fire way of preserving discrimination in this country.
“State-funded Catholic schools existed in the beginning to combat antiCatholic discrimination in Scotland. But it has gone on too long and has created and shored up divisions.”
Chris Cunningham, Glasgow’s education convener, said Catholic schools were “welcoming” and “inclusive” to all faiths.
But Duncan added: “I would assume what Mr Cunningham means by that isn’t just that they accept children from all faiths but they accept their views. Surely that would make them nothing more than a comprehensive school.”
A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow added: “We are delighted the City Council is to offer a civic reception.
“The First Minister acknowledged powerfully in her Cardinal Winning lecture last month that Catholic schools are good for Scotland.”