More than 40 per cent of the 795,000 students in NSW's public schools do not list any religion on their enrolment form, according to new data that comes as parents and teachers push for an overhaul of the strict rules that leave students with "dead time" if they do not attend scripture.
All schools must set aside at least 30 minutes each week for special religious education (SRE) but the data, released under freedom of information laws, shows that in more than 50 per cent of schools, most students do not nominate a religion.
Christianity remains the main religion listed (about 45 per cent), especially on Sydney's north shore, while some schools in Sydney's west have as many as 90 per cent of students who identify with Islam.
At Banksia Road Public School, 91 per cent of students listed Islam on their enrolment form while at Bellevue Hill Public, 71 per cent students listed Judaism and at Cabramatta High, 35 per cent nominated Buddhism.
The least religious schools in Sydney include Australia Street Infants in Newtown (90 per cent nominated no religion), Yeo Park Infants in Ashfield (87 per cent) and Girraween Public School (79 per cent).
Students who do not go to scripture or ethics classes, which were introduced in 2011 as an alternative to religion classes, are not allowed to do any educational activities while SRE is being offered, prompting concerns from teachers and parents that crucial learning time is being wasted.
It is also not clear how many students who nominate a religion attend scripture because the NSW Department of Education does not track SRE enrolments, despite a recommendation from an independent review into scripture in the state's schools.
The $300,000 review, released in April, was a recommendation of a 2012 upper house inquiry into ethics classes in NSW schools.
The peak body representing public school parents in NSW, the P&C, will move a motion at its annual general meeting next month urging the state government to allow students to do "worthwhile activities" if they opt out of scripture or ethics classes.
The P&C says it is "highly disappointed that the government rejected a recommendation that students not enrolled in these classes be allowed to complete their regular schoolwork during scripture time."
"P&C Federation believes our children are being disadvantaged due to the political expediency," the group says.
About 32,000 students at 420 schools do ethics, but a shortage of volunteer ethics teachers means that demand outstrips supply at many schools.
The president of the NSW Teachers' Federation, Maurie Mulheron, said the union supported SRE in schools, but teachers had concerns about the "dead time" for students who chose not to attend scripture.
"Students should not be treated as second-class citizens if they are not religious," Mr Mulheron said.
"If students do not do SRE they should be able to attend ethics classes or do other work relating to the curriculum."
The data, released to the group Fairness In Religions in Schools (FIRIS), shows the number of students at each school in 2015 who identified a religion on their enrolment form or left that section blank or listed "no religion".
The enrolment form says "please identify the student's religion if you want the student to participate in special religious education". That section is optional.
A spokesman for FIRIS in NSW, Darrin Morgan, said the Education Department had "no control over of the content, how it is presented or who presents" scripture lessons in schools.
"For up to one hour a week, we are effectively handing over our classrooms to churches," Mr Morgan said.
The FIRIS group claimed victory in Victoria in 2015 when the state's Education Minister James Merlino announced that special religious instruction was to be pushed out of school hours from 2016 and treated as an after-school elective.
Commenting after the release of the review into SRE and ethics in April, the Inter-Church Commission on Religious Education in Schools said the review affirmed the "important place" of scripture and ethics in public education.
"In the interests of securing the future of SRE we will be working collaboratively with authorised providers of all faiths to make SRE a strength of public education in NSW in a multi-cultural and multi faith environment," the group said.
with Conal Hanna
