The Protestant churches in the North have said they are seeking "parity of protection for the Christian ethos in schools attended generally by Protestant children, currently enjoyed in the Catholic-maintained sector of education".
They have also insisted they are "entirely supportive" of the right of Catholic schools to maintain their Christian ethos "in the context of identical funding".
The Transferor Representatives' Council (TRC), which acts for the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist churches which in the past transferred their schools to state control in the North, has expressed concern to the Assembly Education Committee at plans to remove their right to representation on boards of state-controlled schools.
Transferor governors from those churches now make up four out of nine members on a state-controlled primary school board. It is proposed this be stopped as it purportedly contravenes equality requirements in the law. It is also proposed that transferors will only have rights of representation on schools they formerly owned.
The TRC has said this will lead to a huge loss of rights for transferors, and will remove the Christian ethos as of right from the controlled sector of education.
