No more Needlework for girls: Primary school rules to be updated

The Education Minister says she has asked her officials to "modernise" the Primary School rulebook.

It follows reports that Jan O'Sullivan would abolish or dilute the 50-year-old "rule 68" - which sets out religion as the "most important" part of the curriculum.

The Minister says it is one of many "archaic" provisions in the rulebook - which the school system has long since moved on from.

Rule 68, which details religious instruction, states:

"Of all the parts of a school curriculum Religious Instruction is by far the most important, as its subject-matter, God's honour and service, includes the proper use of all man's faculties, and affords the most powerful inducements to their proper use."

It also notes that the religious denomination of each pupil must be recorded. "This information should be ascertained from the parent (the father, if possible)".

Rule 70 denotes Needlework, Cookery, Laundry and Domestic Economy as girls' subjects, while Manual Instruction is for boys only.

"If you actually look at rule 69 or rule 70, you'll see some archaic suggestions," the Minister said.

"The rulebook is there for 50 years. There have been a lot of circulars since that have changed the way in which the Department of Education - and schools - actually operate.

"I think it's time to go back and look at this, and see if we can bring it up to some kind of modern standards."

A copy of the Rules for National School (1965) can be found on the Department of Education Website here.

– Additional reporting Dave Molloy