A leading educational body has rejected criticism about Muslim pupils wearing the hijab and claimed that all Catholic schools are “extraordinarily inclusive.”
Fr Michael Drumm, chairperson of the Catholic Schools Partnership - a representative body of Catholic schools - said he was rejecting the idea that “anyone could tell a school what to do in this regard”.
He said: “Issues of inclusion are best dealt with by the school community itself, including questions of uniform.”
Mr Drumm’s comments come after Trinity College lecturer Dr Ali Selim called for more acceptance of the headscarf in schools and for religious symbols, including the crucifix and images of saints, to be removed from uniform crests in some cases.
“My response to the issue with the hijab is that uniforms are a school-based issue,” said Fr Drumm.
“We don’t give instruction to schools as regards their uniform and we don’t’ think anybody else should either - including the department.”
Fr Drumm said that by and large, “Catholic schools are “extraordinarily inclusive, in fact they are the most inclusive school in terms of social inclusion of Travellers and people with special needs and so on”.
On the issue of ethos, Fr Drumm said all Catholic schools must live out their own ethos and be open and welcoming people of other faiths and none.
Regarding schools’ admission policies, another issue criticised by Dr Selim, Fr Drumm said that although a minority are over subscribed, they must develop and publicise criteria for the selection of pupils because “clearly they can’t take all the pupils who apply to them”. In some cases, he said criteria might include faith affiliation or geographic area.
Despite being on a waiting list for two years, Ahmed Adnan, a member of the Muslim community claims his son Adam (12) was refused enrolment at a Catholic secondary school in South Dublin because of his religious identity.
“We were told there was no place and that we were too late to apply” said Mr Adnan who has been living in Ireland for 14 years. “There are some schools that are not accepting at all of Muslim students”.