religious instruction in schools.....
25/03/08 21:29
www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=543111&in_page_id=1770
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/24/nembryo124.xml
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article3603020.ece
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Children should receive "religious instruction" from
imams and other preachers in state schools as part of
a radical overhaul of faith in education, teachers
have said. The National Union of Teachers (NUT)
suggested that schools adopt flexible uniform
policies and provide private prayer facilities for
pupils who want to use them. But headteachers,
secular campaigners and the Church of England
criticised the proposals, which were launched at the
NUT's annual conference in Manchester. The union
warned that the spread of separate faith schools
under Government reforms threatened to undermine
community relations, with children taught in
segregated groups. Officials said the predominance of
Christian schools in England was "unjust and
unsustainable" when growing numbers of Muslim
families wanted their own religious state education.
The NUT proposed a solution in which all state
schools offer "religious instruction" to pupils who
want it from different faiths. NUT general secretary
Steve Sinnott said: "I believe that there will be
real benefits to all our communities and youngsters
if we could find space for pupils who are Roman
Catholics, Anglican, Methodist, Jewish, Sikh and
Muslim to have more religious instruction in schools.
"You
could have imams coming in, you could have the local
rabbi coming in and the local Roman Catholic priest.
If there were opportunities where they all talked
together to the youngsters, what a fantastic example
that would be." The policy document, In Good Faith,
was formally adopted by delegates at the NUT's annual
conference in Manchester. It said "reasonable
accommodations" should be made to meet the religious
needs of all pupils. The Church of England attacked
the NUT proposal. A spokesman for the CoE said:
"Religious instruction belongs with the religious
institutions, the churches, the mosques, the
temples."