The National Secular Society has told the Welsh Government that school transport policies which privilege religious families should end.
The Welsh Government is consulting on updated guidance for learner travel, including on state-funded transport to schools.
Responding to the consultation, the NSS urged the Welsh Government to remove legal provisions which permit state-funded transport to faith schools that are not considered the pupil’s nearest school.
Exemptions in equality law allow local authorities to provide “free” transport to a faith school if the local authority considers it to be the “nearest suitable school” and if the parents’ school preference is based on religion. All state-funded faith schools in Wales are either Anglican or Catholic.
However, no similar provision exists for families who choose a secular school because they want a nonreligious education for their children.
The NSS said this creates an “asymmetry”, where Anglican and Catholic families are treated more favourably than nonreligious families and families belonging to minority religions.
This leads to “unacceptable, and potentially illegal, discrimination against parents and children from nonreligious and minority religious backgrounds,” the NSS said.
Under the law, even parents who are not Anglican or Catholic who nevertheless choose a faith school may be denied state-funded transport if they cannot demonstrate sufficient religiosity. This had led to what some parents have called “apartheid”, where families who demonstrate sufficient religiosity get the state-funded ‘faith bus’, while all other families must pay for their own transport.
The NSS called this “highly discriminatory” and “inimical to creating a cohesive community between people of different and religions and beliefs”.
The NSS also highlighted that Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights has expressed concerns about equality law exemptions on the grounds of religion or belief for school transport.
The 2021 Census found the nonreligious are the largest religion or belief group in Wales. The NSS said the policy of providing state-funded transport to faith schools but not nonreligious schools under the same conditions “will grow increasingly unsustainable and discriminatory against the majority of families in Wales”.
NSS: “Discriminatory and unfair” faith school travel policy must end
NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: “There is no such thing as ‘free’ school transport.
“The ‘free’ transport offered by local authorities is paid for by local families. It is discriminatory and unfair to expect families who get no assistance with transport to their local nonreligious school to fund the transport for religious families to send their children to faith schools.
“We therefore call on the Welsh Government to end this unjustifiable policy.
“While this policy exists, it should be updated to ensure equal school transport provision for parents who choose a nonreligious school for religion or belief reasons, under the same terms as parents who choose a faith school.”
The consultation closes on September 10th. Responses can be submitted here.