Religious practices in school
Çurrently the debate about religious practices in South Frican schools is becoming very disturbing by so many opinions about the matter. Philosophically reasoning ad nauseam. My practical experience was that either the principal or a teacher opened once a week with scripture reading and singing in the school hall. Periods asigned for religious lessons were usually used for additional academic lessons in risk subjects. No fuss at all. When I was enlisted in the Air Force Gymnasium in Valhalla, I was exposed to different religious denominations as well as the use of Engkish as one of the official languages. The Air Force officers who opened certain parades with Bible reading and prayers discerned their themes according to the various denominations. Some denominations were pardoned to withdraw from religious practices. When I became a teacher in 1969 at the Brebner Schoolin Bloemfontein, the principal, Mr Flippie Bierman , applied the same practice as I experienced in the Air Force. Again, no fuss about the freedom to practice relious practises during morning prayers. However, human rights organisations all of a sudden jumped on the band wagon to prevent the enforcement of a certain denomination above the other.