THE Education Department has warned a Hawthorn primary school council not to survey parents about religious instruction because to do so would be "provocative".

The department's student well-being division, which enforces the law requiring schools to run "special religious instruction" where it is offered, last week tried to clamp down on debate at Hawthorn West Primary School.

Fighting bureaucracy: Tim Heasley Credit:Ken Irwin

It also sent schools in the eastern region a suggested statement for their newsletters, urging school councils not to seek parents' views on the subject.

Whether parents liked it or not, the requirement to offer religious instruction would not change ''unless there is a change to the act,'' the statement said.