Educate Together should prioritise atheists

To Be Honest A parent writes:So half of the children at Educate Together schools are Catholic, according to a recent report from the ESRI and Educate Together.

That’s no surprise, but I have to admit I have a problem with it. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have an issue with Catholics going to Educate Together schools, not at all. I have a problem with the fact that there is no system of entry to these schools that favours children, like my son, who have no other option.

Educate Together schools favour a first-come-first-served system of entry. Very equitable, yes? No, actually.

First come, first served favours children of parents who are clued into education, children of parents who have lived in an area for a long time, children who have siblings in a school and whose parents know how competitive entry is.

It favours those in the know.

There is no discrimination on the basis of religion or background, which is great in one way, but in another I believe there should be a level of positive discrimination in favour of people like my child.

My son isn’t baptised. That’s not laziness, that’s a decision his father and I made. We live in an area with lots of primary schools and one Educate Together school. I put my son’s name down for the local Educate Together school less than four weeks after he was born.

The problem is he was born at the end of August. He is at the very bottom of the list for that year. Unless the school has three junior-infant classes he’s not going to be offered a place.

I have looked at the enrolment policies of other schools in the area, both Catholic and Protestant.

I am reasonably certain that my son wouldn’t be refused by any of these schools, but what troubles me is that as a child with no religion he is at the very bottom of their lists.

These schools will accept every other child that applies before they will accept my son. The Catholic schools will accept Protestant children before they will accept my son, and the Protestant school will accept Catholics and children of any other religion before my son would be offered a place.

They will accept children of religion outside of the school’s catchment area before my son gets a look-in.

We live right in the middle of the catchment area of a number of schools. It counts for nothing because all of the schools make religion their priority.

That’s their prerogative. They are religious schools; they are not required to cater for us. I’m not complaining about that, but I am saying that Educate Together needs to step up.

Catholic children and children of other religions in my area have other options. My son doesn’t.

While this state of affairs exists he should get priority of entry to Educate Together, because he needs a place more than the Catholic child who is ahead of him on the list.

Those parents may want an Educate Together education for their child, but they don’t need it – at least not as much as my son does.

One footnote: I have great time for Educate Together and have been a long-time supporter. The group has been fighting the good fight on multidenominational education for decades. My concern is that Educate Together has become a victim of its own success and parents like me are losing out.

This column is designed to give a voice to people within the education system who wish to speak out anonymously. Email contributions to sflynn@iristimes.com