Sir, –I would like to thank Claire Hogan for her article "Headscarf bans: Coming to a Catholic school near you?" (Opinion, March 16th) which provides the opportunity to expose this demonstrably false conjecture for the red herring that it is.
The Catholic Bishops’ Guidelines on the Inclusion of Students of other Faiths in Catholic Schools states explicitly: “No pupil or staff member should be prevented from wearing a religious symbol or garment in accordance with their tradition, for example, the hijab for Muslim girls and the turban for Sikh boys. Freedom of religious expression is a basic human right and is in keeping with the Catholic understanding of its identity as being a universal church.”
Furthermore, Catholic schools abide by the Education Act (1998) which requires that schools respect “the principles and requirements of a democratic society and have respect and promote respect for the diversity of values, of beliefs, traditions and languages and ways of life in society”.
This requirement is reflected in the uniform policies of schools which guarantee respect for the display of religious symbols, including headscarves. Before jumping to the conclusion that headscarf bans could be potentially introduced in Irish Catholic schools contrary to all evidence, I suggest Claire Hogan peruses the objective Whole School Evaluation reports on the Department of Education website which continually praise the inclusive ethos of Ireland’s religious schools which have, for example, successfully accommodated children of many religions and none without “indoctrination”.
These inclusive faith-based religious schools welcome and respect the beliefs of children of a diversity of backgrounds because they are Catholic. – Yours, etc,
DIARMUID BOLGER,
Clonmel,
Co Tipperary .