Court case for atheists' kids

AN atheist mum says her kids suffer discrimination when they leave their classmates in a religious class at their public school.

AN atheist mother has told a court her children suffer from discrimination when they leave their classmates in a Christian religious class at their public school.

Sophie Aitken and two other parents yesterday began their legal case against the Victorian Education Department for not providing "meaningful" activities when their children left classmates in religious instruction lessons.

Ms Aitken, who has three sons at Ivanhoe East Primary School in Melbourne's northeast, told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing they complained about having to go to another classroom for "boring silent reading".

Barrister Melinda Richards, representing the parents, told the court they did not believe in God and had not taught their children to. "In a secular school, school time should not be used for religious instruction," she said.

Ms Richards said the parents would have no complaint if the religious classes were run outside school hours, but departmental policy did not allow for that.

The Education Department announced changes last year to ensure students who did not attend religious classes remained supervised and engaged in "positive" independent learning, but Ms Aitken said she wanted philosophy or ethics classes offered to the non-religious students in lieu of the religious instruction classes.

Rowena Orr, for the department, rejected the discrimination claim and said the children were not allowed to study the core curriculum while their classmates had religious instruction as it would lead to an unfair advantage.

AAP