Quebec schools will no longer be able to reserve space for prayer activities, Education Secretary Bernard Drainville has ruled through the release of a ministerial directive passed on Wednesday.
• Also read: Prayer Room: Accommodation at the Rimouski-Neigette Training Center
• Also read: Prayer rooms in schools: Muslim associations react to Drainville
• Also read: ‘School is not a place of prayer!’: Minister Bernard Drainville bans schools from converting classrooms into prayer rooms
The minister, who vowed to act in this direction following revelations about prayer rooms set up in Laval schools, called on school service centers to “ensure in each of their schools and in each of their centers that ‘no space is actually used’ appearing for the purpose religious practices such as open prayer or other similar practices,” the policy reads.
Today, to preserve the secular character of public school, I am issuing the Policy Regarding Religious Practice in Our Public Schools.
Schools are places of learning, not places of worship.
Here is the guideline ⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/X9yUgmZiKH
— Bernard Drainville (@BDrainvilleQc) April 19, 2023
“Schools are places of learning, not places of worship,” added Mr. Drainville in a press release.
In particular, the government pleaded that the adoption of the ministerial decrees aimed at enforcing within schools the law on respect for the state’s secularism, to which school service centers are subject.
The debate began earlier this month when Cogeco Nouvelles revealed that “resource” facilities had opened in two Laval schools. These premises were used by students of the Muslim faith to pray in the middle of Ramadan.
Minister Drainville initially responded by reiterating that these premises should be open to students of all religious denominations and walks of life before changing his mind.
“School is not a place of prayer, it’s not complicated, school is not a place of prayer!” he claimed on April 5, promising to send a policy to school service centers.
The policy was passed on the eve of the end of the Ramadan period, which is in effect from March 22 to April 20 this year.
Mr. Drainville was careful not to forbid the students from praying. They could continue to do so “quietly” outside of the premises dedicated to classes, he said earlier this month.
The Laval School Services Center said early in the controversy that it wanted to protect its schools by inviting students to pray in the same place, rather than distributing it through its facilities.