It is already a given fact that access to high quality education is part of every person's civil rights, no matter what their gender, race, sexuality, religion, disability or national origin may be. Unfortunately, discrimination is not only limited to races but also to religious backgrounds.
Due to the increasing religious discrimination claims, the U.S. Department of Education has recently announced that the agency will amp up their efforts to address the issues. In addition, the agency also vowed to encourage respect for all students, regardless of faith and religious beliefs.
"Students of all religions should feel safe, welcome and valued in our nation's schools," Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon said in a statement, as written on the U.S. Department of Education press release. "We will continue to work with schools and communities to stop discrimination and harassment so that all students have an equal opportunity to participate in school no matter who they are, where they come from or which faith, if any, they subscribe to."
Protecting Students From Unlawful Religious Discrimination
In order to confront the unlawful religious discrimination among students in all educational institutions in the United States, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched a religious discrimination webpage on its website. According to Home Room, the department's official blog site, the new page will provide information regarding the federal laws that would protect the students from religious discrimination.
Furthermore, an updated online complaint form is also introduced to assure the complainants that OCR has the power to conduct an investigation about racial, ethnic or national origin discrimination complaints that involve religion. This way, OCR confirms that students, parents and persons of all faiths can file such complaints in spite of the fact that the OCR-imposed laws do not clearly address religious discrimination in education.
"Both efforts aim to ensure that students of all religious backgrounds receive the full protection of federal civil rights laws," the office said.
Parents Call For An End To Religious Discrimination InState-FundedSchools
To note reactions over religious discrimination, Irish parents and their children have carried out a protest outside the Leinster House in Ireland earlier this month to end the religious discrimination in state-funded schools. According to Irish Times, the demonstration was organized by Education Equality, an organization that promotes equal access to high quality of education for all students.
The demonstration came as over 90 percent of the primary schools in the state are under Catholic patronage. Despite the efforts to provide greater choice for parents, it remained "slow and divisive."
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