Downing Street is considering a significant policy change that would allow faith schools in England to admit pupils based solely on religious criteria, potentially repealing the current rule introduced in 2010. This rule mandates these institutions to allocate at least 50% of their places to children of different faiths or none, a policy that faced a big backlash, notably from the Catholic Church. The proposed change has sparked a debate on the implications for religious selection in schools, with voices like the National Secular Society calling for a complete ban on religious selection, arguing it contradicts efforts to prevent discrimination based on protected characteristics, including religion, and labeling the policy 'clearly obscene'.
'It's not like The Handmaid's Tale where you're lined up and forced to have a particular religion.' As the government may drop the 50% secular intake rule, @ShelaghFogarty asks the National Secular Society's Stephen Evans why he says the policy is 'clearly obscene'. https://t.co/r4rgM9ZEzy
Tell me again how we don’t have a problem in the UK? Why is literally any reasonably liberal-minded person - of any faith or persuasion - ok with living amongst the output of such a survey? https://t.co/FqNsNxnUSO
💯 But lets not stick with a 50% cap - lets ban religious selection in schools altogether. With so much focus on preventing selection based on protected characteristics, such as religion, in every other walk of life this is an anomaly - and a dangerous and divisive one https://t.co/hFeTrcIqm8
🔴 Officials said to be considering repealing rule that religious schools must make half of places open to children of differing faiths https://t.co/jwOfVdTOyT
Faith schools could be allowed to choose all their pupils as the government considers dropping the 50% rule https://t.co/3CfaACoqny https://t.co/rKLIdqNOwb
Exclusive: Number 10 looks set to repeal the cap limiting the proportion of places that faith schools can hand to pupils of that religion. The 50% rule was introduced in 2010, sparking a big backlash from the Catholic Church 1/3 https://t.co/R015eTgWtZ
Faith schools in England would no longer have to offer a proportion of their places to children who do not follow their religion under plans being considered by Downing Street ⬇️ https://t.co/GBP74PRXlO