Recognition of religious groups in multicultural education

This paper discusses recognition of religious minorities in multicultural education by conducting socio-political analysis of religion as a construct of group identity and a social regulator, and educational secular public space. Current multicultural educational practices are criticized for failing to actively promote social change and create alternative spaces to that of secular Eurocentric education. The paper concludes that the issue of public funding of independent religious schools is a matter of both parents' and individual rights and groups' rights to have their cultural identity recognized and equally treated under the law. Anti-racist discourse and Afrocentric education are introduced as one alternative to hegemonic, mono-centric framework in education that not only recognizes minorities in public institutions but also acknowledges their worth.