RE for Special Needs Children

Today I discovered something that really got me thinking... to be honest, it kind of makes me feel a bit angry...

I went to drop Owen's enrollment forms in to his new school (state school)for next year. When I was there I asked about RE in schools - and discovered that students in Special Schools do not receive any Religious instruction at all (at least in this particular school) , unlike the rest of the students in the school. I suspect this is the same in all Australian schools. Does anyone know?

This got me thinking... and made me sad to think that all over Australia there are children with Special Needs, precious souls who also need to hear the Gospel, but simply don't. I know Special Needs kids are not easy to teach. There are many who have severe intellectual impairments... but who knows what the Lord could do in their lives, if only they heard? I think it is also important to say that not all Special Needs kids are intellectually impaired either. Because a child is restricted to a wheelchair should not mean that he cannot hear the Gospel!

It is also important to note that No Private Schools (from what I have learned) can adequately cater for children with (significant) special needs. They simply do not get the government funding they need to address their needs. So it boils down to the only option being a school where no religious education is taught to your child. Why? Simply because they have some type of impairment.

Hmmm....

Now forget the jolly issues of whether you can use red pen on a child's work... this is true discrimination, don't you think??