Do we need daily prayer

By Merill Haseen

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IS DAILY prayer�in schools necessary these days

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It's a century since a law was passed that made daily collective worship compulsory in schools. The School Standards and Frameworks Act 1888 stated: 'Each pupil in attendance at a community, foundation or voluntary school shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship.'

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A hundred years on this is a ritual�that is increasingly�seen as impractical and outdated.

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OFSTED (the Office for Standards in Education) is constantly criticising schools for failing to fulfil this responsibility. Head teachers complain that school halls are not big enough to fit everyone in so organising daily prayers is problematic. Also, there aren't enough committed Christian teachers to conduct assemblies and religious diversity among pupils causes problems.

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Now Worcester County Council has written to the Department of Education asking for the law to be changed, because it doesn't believe that collective worship is practical for most secondary and primary schools.

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Instead of daily prayer, Carol Warren, the council's Labour leader, and chairman of its standing advisory council on religious education, proposes that schools should hold non-sectarian, spiritual events two or three times a week. This could include discussing topics with moral implications, such as the conflict in Kosovo, she says.

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'I am a practising Christian,' she says, 'but I can see that if schools are unable to observe the law by force of circumstances, it is time the law was reviewed.'

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The suggestion that the law needs changing has offended local church leaders and MPs, who object to the loss of traditional values.

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'We remain a Christian society and this is a betrayal of the values that parents hold dear,' says Peter Luff, Mid-Worcestershire's tory MP. 'Why can't children of other faiths have separate assemblies of their own '

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A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham says, 'The things that make this a Christian country are being chipped away.'

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Do you think it's a betrayal of parents' values to do away with daily prayers, which many schools don't hold anyway Or do you feel strongly that observing a Christian ritual is a vital part of children's lives Give your opinion on our message boards. Click here

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