EDUCATION Minister Ruairi Quinn would prefer schools spent time
improving reading and maths skills rather than preparing pupils for
sacraments such as First Communion and Confirmation.
The minister said the faith formation carried out during the day took up time that could be used in other ways.
He referred to a severe decline in performance by Irish 15-year-olds in the international OECD/PISA league table on literacy published last year, dropping from 5th to 17th place.
Maths also dipped.
Primary pupils spend 30 minutes a day on religion, which in Catholic schools includes preparation for the sacraments.
Other
schools, such as the multi-denominational Educate Together sector, also
spend 30 minutes daily on ethical issues, but it does not include
formal religious instruction.
Mr Quinn said while no person should
enter the world without clear knowledge and understanding of the
history of religions, faith formation was a different thing.
"It
takes up a lot of time, some people suggest it might be done by parents
or parish, perhaps within the school building but outside school
teaching hours.
"Quite frankly, we have overloaded the
curriculum," Mr Quinn said while attending the annual conference of the
Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools (ACCS).
But, he added, he wanted to maximise the potential for the system to educate children.
Mr
Quinn was speaking in the context of the forum he has set up to decide
on the transfer of some of the 92pc of Catholic primary schools to other
patron bodies.
Rights
Schools may be
handed over to existing patron bodies, such as Educate Together, or, in
some cases, new arrangements could be put in place.
The Catholic
bishops state that any new arrangements must respect the rights of
parents, in particular in relation to the religious instruction of
children, within the curriculum.
Mr Quinn said he respected the autonomy of the different school patron bodies, and their commitment to education.
"This is a dialogue, but Ireland has changed", he said.
Mr
Quinn's stark message to the ACCS was that "we have to do more with
less". ACCS general secretary Ciaran Flynn said while they did not like
the minister's message, they applauded his honesty.
Meanwhile, the
Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork Dr Paul Colton told the conference
that their schools were facing a threat to their survival because of the
raft of education cuts.
Dr Colton said there was a lot of
apprehension about the impact of measures, such as the value-for-money
review of small schools and changes in entitlement to school transport,
on the Protestant sector.
Many Protestant schools, particularly
at primary level, are small, rural-based and widely dispersed and, as a
minority sector, it has enjoyed special protection from the State.