A satisfactory proposal for all seems to have at least been discussed during the meeting between the government and the Bureau of Catholic Education. Each school could be more or less free to decide on its own admission criterion so long as it is lawful.

What the Catholic schools are aiming at is keeping their specificity. This claim looks quite acceptable and could be justified since they have always been active partners in education in the country and it seems that their approach is a successful one.

However, their specificity was very closely associated with the ?religious criterion?, which was declared illegal by the Privy Council at the beginning of this year. So, they have had to look for another criterion that could fit the bill. In order to deal with their detractors, who have always thought that they favoured certain social classes, the Bureau of Catholic Education decided that the drawing of lots would be a fair and transparent way of allocating its reserved seats. However, the Catholic authorities have been under heavy fire from their own teachers and from the Platform of Catholic priests and lay social groups. The latter consider that children?s futures cannot be based on the drawing of lots.

With the latest suggestion of a panel composed of various stakeholders ? to avoid any allegations of favouritism ? in each school, Catholic authorities should succeed in preserving the specificity of their schools. Every school would fix its own criteria to admit students who would meet their requirements depending on the values the school intends to defend.

It looks obvious that each Catholic school has its own specialisation. For instance, Loreto College of Rose-Hill is the only one to offer German up to the Higher School Certificate. Likewise, some schools favour sports as part of the curriculum or involve their students in social work.

If these specialisations do not contradict the supreme educational goal of Catholic authorities, there should be no problem if each school can judge whether a child fits its specificity. It can also judge whether parents who ask for admission for their wards, are ready to become involved themselves in this pedagogical project. Both children and parents would thus have to demonstrate to the panel that their aspirations correspond to the school?s code of conduct.

Actually, what the catholic authorities have always defended is the fact that they do not provide only academic education, but that their aim is also to equip the child with the tools and values to develop his/her own personality in an all-round way. None of their schools should thus be in contradiction with this approach.

Nevertheless, some questions about this panel remain. The process could be long and time-consuming. How will the panel members be chosen and how can it be proved that they will be perfectly impartial when they choose a student? Every person who is interviewed by the panel may consider that he/she is entitled to a seat.

This is why the first condition expected from schools, if ever this proposal is decided upon, is that their admission criteria be ?clear, fair, objective and transparent?. If only to avoid ? what has become usual ? being contested by one or the other of the stakeholders.