The issue is about mandatory programmes of Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) study in schools from September 2011. The Children’s Rights Alliance for England, the Accord Coalition of religious and non-religious groups working for inclusive schooling, the Christian think-tank Ekklesia and the British Humanist Association are among those concerned that the government appears to have watered down the Children, Schools and Families Bill after pressure from the Catholic Education Service (CES) and others.

Today (19 February 2010) parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights’ (JCHR) has issued its scrutiny of the Bill. The JCHR supports the Bill in making Sex and Relationships Education a mandatory subject in all schools, describing the introduction of SRE for all pupils as a “human rights enhancing measure”.

In particular, the committee welcomes the fact that state-funded faith schools will have to follow the same principle of promoting equality as all other state-funded schools. However, the Government has now tabled an amendment to its own Bill, which effectively reverses that position.

Continues: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/11308