The days when parents felt forced to baptise their children to guarantee their place in a local school could be nearing an end… but there’s still some way to go before Ireland’s education system is acceptable to the nation’s mums and dads.
Here’s the good news: discriminatory school admission policies, waiting lists and admission fees are all set to be banned as part of a new bill on education.
The approval of the Education (Admission to Schools Bill) was announced by Education Minister Richard Bruton this morning, requiring each and every school in Ireland to publish their admission policies, detailing provisions made for children who do not take part in religion classes.
Every school that is not oversubscribed will be required to admit any child who applies for a place.
Rather confusingly however, the bill still recognises the constitutional right of religious schools to uphold the school ethos, so while every school will be forced to be transparent regarding their admission decisions, the bill will not immediately stamp out religious discrimination by removing the permission for schools under religious patronage to prefer some children over others on the basis of religion.
Speaking this morning on the Bill, Education Equality Chairperson April Duff said:
“The Bill effectively skirts around the edges, in that it would seem it fails to address the most pressing problem in school admissions: discrimination on the grounds of religion in accessing places.”
While it welcomes the move to create greater transparency in requiring the publication of admissions policies, Education Equality is concerned that the changes are procedural rather than substantive. Ms. Duff continued:
“While greater transparency is always welcome, in effect “transparent discrimination” is not a great improvement on “hidden discrimination.”
The legislation is expected to be enacted before the school year begins in September, 2017.
Do you think more needs to be done to end discrimination in school admission policies? Let us know on Twitter @HerFamilydotie.
