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An editorial on the Suff website labels as “plain silly” a woman’s complaint that her son could hear religious instruction from the classroom next door.
He was in the room for the duration of a religious education class that he had chosen not to attend.
Tanya Jacob says she pulled her son out of Harewood School in 2012 after first opting him out of the religious classes for three years.
She claims he was being “snuck back in the classes” or in conjoining rooms sorting books “within earshot.”
Jacobs said she repeatedly asked to have her son completely removed, but then he was made to do dishes.
Harewood School principal Julie Greenwood said its board of trustees made the decision to bring volunteers in to deliver religious instruction while the school was officially closed for 30 minutes a week, for about three-quarters of the year.
But parents could opt out “and that’s perfectly fine.”
“While we offer this programme, those who choose to opt out are in no way discriminated against.”
“The children are actively supervised in the library during the 30-minute sessions.”
Jacob’s son was the only child who opted out at the time, and “obviously systems were different”. He was “not put to work”, said Greenwood.
Jacobs is a member of the Secular Education Network, which wants religious instruction in schools forbidden.
She said her family was not opposed to religion, but schools that were meant to be “melting pots” of different religions and cultures were essentially “handing over a captive congregation” to one particular church group.
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News category: New Zealand, Top Story.
