The New South Wales government has re-confirmed that it is committed to allowing the controversial Special Religious Education (SRE) program to continue taking up precious learning time in public schools.

At the budget estimates hearing in August, education minister and Deputy Premier Prue Car told the Legislative Council’s Education and Early Learning Committee that the Labor government had no plans to make changes to the program.

Asked by a One Nation member of parliament who supports SRE whether the government remained committed to the relevant section of the state’s Education Act – section 32 – Ms Car responded: “Yes”.

Ms Car also confirmed that she meets with faith leaders and people involved in SRE “quite regularly”.

“In fact, I only recently had a faith leaders roundtable with the secretary, discussing many issues around SRE,” she said.

Opposition to SRE being held during class time is mounting, as participation data shows that many schools only have a small minority of students taking part. While some non-participating students have an option to attend Special Education in Ethics (SEE) instead, many have no option but to find other activities to fill their time.

Key stakeholders in the public sector, parents and members of parliament are calling for SRE and SEE to be moved to outside class time.

Last year, the media reported that 99 per cent of students at a number of schools in one religion opted out of SRE.

Also at estimates hearings in August, Greens MP Cate Faehrmann asked multiculturalism minister Steve Kamper whether he was aware of a report that claimed caste was being taught as a beneficial construct in some SRE classes. He said he was not. The Rationalist Society of Australia has been unable to confirm the existence of the report.

At budget estimates in October last year, Ms Car said that the government would not be following the Victorian Labor government’s example of moving scripture classes to being held outside of regular class hours. 

Earlier this year, in response to a 1,500-strong petition from parents calling for reform of the SRE program, Ms Car defended SRE and said “homework” was a “meaningful activity” for non-participating students to fill the lost time.

Also, Ms Car has dismissed the RSA’s concerns about the teaching of creationism as part of Christian SRE and the teaching of “hellfire” and uncompromising messages about friendships and identity in Islamic SRE.

The Rationalist Society of Australia is actively lobbying for secular reform of scripture programs in public schools.  If you want to support our work, please make a donation or become a member.

Si Gladman is Executive Director of the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.

Image: Prue Car (Facebook)