Education Bill: BHA concerns raised across parties and religious beliefs

Concerns about the Education Bill’s potential to increase further religious discrimination in schools were raised during its “second reading” in the House of Lords yesterday by Labour, Conservative and Crossbench peers including Christians, Hindus and humanists.

Peers spoke out against the continuing power of ‘faith’ schools to discriminate in admissions, the appointment of governors and the employment of staff, about homophobic bullying, about extremist (including creationist) groups setting up Free Schools with unbalanced curricula, about the need to repeal laws on collective worship and about the need to maintain community cohesion.

The British Humanist Association (BHA) briefed peers ahead of the debate. Commenting, BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson said, ‘It is clear that the concerns we have consistently raised about the context of the Education Bill are widely shared. We urge the Government to take heed of the broad range of individuals speaking out against the further entrenchment of religious divisions in our school system.’

The BHA is working with Peers from across the Parties in seeking to have the Education Bill amended in ways to protect the rights of teachers and children.

Notes

For further comment or information, please contact Andrew Copson, 07534 258596.

Read the BHA’s briefing for Lords second reading of the Education Bill.

Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on religion and schools.

The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of ethically concerned, non-religious people in theUK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.

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