Joint letter calls for children’s right to opt out from religious observance in schools

Date: 20th August 2024
Category: General measures of implementation, Education, Leisure and Cultural Activities

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In a joint letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills Jenny Gilruth MSP, Humanist Society Scotland teamed up with Together to call for an end to compulsory religious worship in state schools.

Currently, parents can withdraw their children from religious observance, but no equivalent right exists for pupils themselves, regardless of their age or evolving capacity. This is to say that parent opt-out does not go far enough in upholding children’s human right to freedom of religion or belief.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in its recent recommendations to the UK and Scottish Government called for the repeal of compulsory collective worship and to ensure the right of all children, including those under 16 years of age, to withdraw from religious observance without parental consent.

Together has recommended a pupil opt-out from religious observance in five of the last six State of Children's Rights in Scotland reports.

• Read the joint letter in full here