Education

Muslim Student Complaint Highlights Need to Retain Equal Opportunity Exceptions for Religious Schools

The peculiar situation of a Muslim student teacher reportedly lodging a complaint because she was denied a place in a Christian school further highlights the need to retain exceptions for religious schools and bodies in Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act, the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) said today.

ACL Victorian Director Rob Ward said it impinges on religious freedom to require a Christian school to take on a Muslim student teacher, just as it would in the opposite situation.

“In line with the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, parents choosing to send their children to a Christian school would expect that it would be free to uphold Christian values and beliefs. In this respect teachers – including student teachers – play a vital role.

“Christian school staff are far more than simply conduits for passing on knowledge but are valuable role models who in their interaction with students demonstrate the value and relevance of the religion itself.

“This clearly does not work if they follow a different religion or in other ways are at odds with the school’s beliefs. It would undermine the very premise of the school to require them to employ or place people that don’t share their beliefs.”

Mr Ward said that it has been reported that the Muslim teaching student who applied to Heathdale Christian College had been counselled by the university about the school’s policy of only taking those who shared its values.

“One has to question why the student went ahead and applied to the school if she knew this was the case. To go on and lodge a complaint against the school seems extraordinary given the circumstances.”

Mr Ward said that under the current exceptions to Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act religious schools and bodies are permitted to limit employment to people who share their faith and values.

“The exceptions to the Equal Opportunity Act are currently the subject of a review and the ACL and other groups have been very concerned that these exceptions might be removed. This latest example demonstrates more than ever why these exceptions to the Act are vitally important.

“Does the government or the community really want to force Christian schools to employ Muslim teachers or Buddhist schools to employ Hindus? These exceptions are vital to maintaining basic rights to religious freedom in a nation that has long respected and upheld these rights.”

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