RELIGION IN SCHOOLS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23027, 3 May 1938, Page 10

RELIGION IN SCHOOLS

i By Clause 39 in the Education | Amendment Bill, questions so important are raised that they should j have full ventilation. The effect of | the clause is, according to the Min- | ister's statement, "to give statutory | opportunity for the Nelson system I of religious instruction . . . for half | an hour on two days of each week," j and the wording of the clause allows | "any person approved by the Board for the purpose ... to give religious instruction to children attending any public school or intermediate school . . . but no child shall be required to attend while such instruction is being given." This is an extension j of the time now usually taken for! j religious instruction—that is, non-! j sectarian instruction in the Bible—! | wherever the Xelson system is in j operation, for one half-hour in each i week is usually occupied thus by f visiting clergymen. But the bill, by] its silence on another practice, j seems to take away the possibility j of its continuance—the voluntary five minutes of devotion, usually conducted by the head of the school, ! at the beginning of each day. This practice, common in secondary schools, has been observed also in more than 400 primary and intermediate schools, and there is sufficient testimony from teachers that its influence is manifestly good. The Minister's reference to this observance ijnplies that it is illegal, but the opinion of the Bible-in-Schools League is that it does not contravene the Education Act in either spirit or letter. Whatever may be thought of the provision for additional Bible instruction, by approved visitors, there should be pause before interdicting the brief opening devotions each morning. The Minister has not explained, not even indicated, his grounds of objection. It is not enough for him to say that what is done is "contrary to the often-expressed decision of Parliament. ' W hen has Parliament so expressed its mind 1 If he holds that, directly or by implication, it has done so. he has opportunity to make statutory provision for the practice, jusc as he offers additional time for Bible instruction under the Xelson system.