The Green Party of England and Wales has today joined the Fair Admissions Campaign – a single issue and ecumenical campaign that Accord co-launched in June, which aims to open up all state-funded schools to all children, without regard to religion. The move has been welcomed as demonstrating the growing consensus for the need for reform of pupil admission arrangements in the state funded faith school sector.
Announcing the Party’s support for the Campaign, Stuart Jeffery, Policy Coordinator for the Green Party, commented, ‘In line with our commitment to an inclusive society and to local schools that serve communities, we are proud to be able to formally back the Fair Admissions Campaign. State schools should not be able to block entry on any grounds, they are there to serve local communities, so we welcome the Fair Admissions Campaign, as it drives to end state funded schools being able to select pupils on religious grounds.
‘Discrimination on religious grounds is simply wrong and divides communities. Allowing state funded schools to continue with this practice is morally wrong and is not supported by the public. Just last year a survey by the Accord Coalition and Com Res found that three quarters of the public opposed religious selection for schools. It is time to end this divisive and outdated practice and to make local schools the heart of communities for all children.’
Caroline Lucas MP, who is a Distinguished supporter of Accord, has also agreed to become an individual supporter of the Campaign. Other supporters include the Socialist Educational Association, which is affiliated to the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrat Education Association, Liberal Youth, and 13 other educational, religious, non-religious, equality, human rights and community cohesion groups.
Commenting on behalf of the Campaign, Chair of Accord, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, said ‘We are witnessing a groundswell of opinion in favour of fairness in our education system; perhaps this is not surprising in that most people are committed to the values of inclusivity and equality, but what is extraordinary is that so many of those responsible for school admissions – be it politicians or governors – are still wedded to policies of discrimination and segregation. They need to start listening to the call for Fair Admissions.’
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Visit the Fair Admissions Campaign website at http://fairadmissions.org.uk/
The Fair Admissions Campaign is supported by a wide coalition of individuals and national and local organisations. They hold diverse views on the appropriateness of the state funding schools with a religious or philosophical character, but all believe that faith-based discrimination in access to schools that are funded by the taxpayer is wrong in principle and a cause of greater religious, ethnic, and socio-economic segregation, all of which are harmful to community cohesion. It is time it stopped.
