Protestant Churches in Ireland fear demise of Christian ethos in schools

Protestant Churches are to petition the Northern Ireland Assembly Education Committee over concerns that they will lose their right to representation on management boards in certain primary schools, jeopardising the Christian ethos of the schools that the state promised to uphold.

The Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches transferred their school buildings, pupils and staff into state control throughout the Thirties, Forties and Fifties on the understanding that the Christian ethos of the schools would be preserved, an agreement which was enshrined in an Act of Parliament.

As part of the changeover, transferors were given rights of representation on Education Authorities, now called Education and Library Boards, and school management committees, or Boards of Governors in today's terms. The transferors were also given rights of representation in the management of new controlled schools - schools owned and funded by Education and Library Boards - that were built after the agreement with the state.

At present, transferor governors from the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches make up four out of nine members on the boards of controlled primary schools, but new proposals for controlled school governance could mean that their rights to representation on the management boards are removed.

The proposals would mean that transferors only have the rights of representation on schools they formerly owned or which were superseded. The Review of Public Administration argues that the statutory representation of transferors on the school management boards contravenes equality requirements under the Northern Ireland Acts.

Representatives of the Transferor Representatives' Council of the Church of Ireland (TRC) are now appealing against the proposals to the Northern Ireland Assembly Education Committee, warning that the removal of Church transferor governors would lead to a "huge loss of rights for transferors" and bring about the swift demise of the Christian ethos as of from the controlled sector of education.

The TRC wants to see the same parity of protection for the Christian ethos in schools attended largely by Protestant children as is currently enjoyed by the Catholic maintained sector of education, and is pressing the Education Department to clarify the plans it has in place to protect the Christian ethos in the controlled sector.

The council warned that it would attempt to block legislation if the Education Committee remains unconvinced by reassurances to protect the Christian ethos of both Protestant and Catholic traditions.