Sir, – About 88 per cent of people in Poland are Catholic, but religious education is optional in schools. Parents decide whether children should attend religion classes or ethics classes. I have spoken to numerous Poles who were amazed when I told them that the religious institutions control nearly all of the primary schools in Ireland.
I hear it said that parents do not have to send their children to religious-controlled schools, but the reality is that many parents do not have a choice. I know of several couples who have no religious beliefs and yet have their children baptised just so they may be admitted to the local primary school and for no other reason. – Yours, etc,
ROB SADLIER,
Stocking Avenue,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Sir, – We can learn a lot from the experience of others, particularly Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain has advanced much further down the secular educational route than us, yet statistics continuously confirm the academic superiority of faith schools. In Northern Ireland, Catholic schools continue to outperform academically all other school types. Besides, despite a lot of loose talk to the contrary, if the most recent Irish census is to be believed, we still live in a surprisingly unicultural society, with 92 per cent of people identifying themselves as Christian. It would seem to be an extraordinary unnecessary gamble to attempt to dismantle the current educational model to placate a tiny minority of dissenters. – Yours, etc,
ERIC CONWAY,
Balreask Village,
Navan, Co Meath.
Sir, – If parents wish for their children to be given religious instruction surely this could be done on a Sunday, after Mass, as is the case in many other countries? Why does the world’s richest, largest and most powerful church need to dip its hands into the pockets of the taxpayer?
I recall only one science lesson in primary school – one half hour where we played with magnets. However we spent hour after hour memorising prayers, catechisms, hymns, preparing for communion and confirmation. All at the expense of every taxpayer – regardless of their faith or lack of it – and in a school that was legally entitled to discriminate against teachers for their sexuality, religion, marital status and so on.
Some republic this is! – Yours, etc,
CEARBHALL TURRAOIN,
Pairc a’ Chrosaire,
An Rinn,
Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.