I’M going to say something and it’s going to be little controversial: I don’t agree with faith schools.
There, I’ve said it. It’s something I’ve debated in my head for a year or two, and now, these past couple of weeks, faith schools have been in the press.
First the school inspection body Ofsted said that Head teachers claimed there was an organised campaign to impose a "narrow, faith-based ideology" at some schools in Birmingham.
Then, in a bizarre twist, the Home Secretary, Theresa May and the Education Secretary, Michael Gove had to be reprimanded for squabbling over the issue, with Mr Gove later announcing that all schools should promote, and I quote, “British Values.”
Yet Mr Gove set up Academies to ‘govern themselves’ yet here he is interfering, insisting we promote British Values when, let’s face it, most people don’t even know what that means. Thank goodness for diversity.
But thing is, they are missing the real issue: the very existence of faith schools themselves.
I used to be a governor of a faith school in Cam.
And while the school is wonderful, one thing that I since have not been able to come to terms with is the fact that faith is the third admission criteria before geographical consideration.
This means that a child whose parent(s) attended the local church for more than two years but lives far away will take priority over a child living down the road from the school.
And in my eyes, that is wrong, whether it rarely happens or not. Indeed, I will go as far to say that it is discriminatory. And that is the issue.
Because, see, decide on who comes into a school based on family faith and you may as well begin selecting on all types of criteria – colour, race, whether your parents are gay.
But, of course, we wouldn’t, would we, because that’s just plain daft. And immoral. So why does the state openly allow schools today to select by faith?
Faith schools certainly have a lot to offer, and there are any good examples across Gloucestershire.
But surely if this latest faith school issue in Birmingham can teach us anything, it is this: we are all equal and should be treated as such, with equal access to a good education.
And what better way to teach that valuable lesson than through the schools themselves.