Tuesday, 7 May 2013

Non Religous Pupils Must Pay for Transport

Children who cannot prove their religious faith will be denied free bus travel by a council in North Wales.
Flintshire Council will demand evidence from pupils such as a note from a Catholic priest or a baptism certificate to qualify for free transport to a faith school, if it is not their nearest.
The plans, thought to be the first of their kind in the country, have been blasted by parents as 'discrimination'.

Under pressure to save money due to government funding cuts, the authority has defended the move as 'fair, equitable and sustainable transport policy' and say it will save up to £100,000 a year.

Other councils across the country have decided to scrap free travel to faith schools entirely, but in Flintshire the council has decided to single out only pupils who are at a faith school but whose admission 'is not based on faith grounds'.
One worried mother said she feared her 10-year-old daughter would not be able to join her older sister at St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, in Flint.
'I would not be able to afford to pay for the bus every day, so it could end up with my daughters going to different high schools, which isn't ideal,' said the mother, whose children both went to a faith primary school.
'My children have not been christened, through my choice not theirs, but the school faith is all they have ever known.
'Just because a child has a baptism certificate it does not mean they are any more active believers than those who haven't.
'It is prejudiced to ask parents of non-baptised children to pay for their transport.'
Read more here Note the picture that has been used is somewhat out of area!