Approaching the end of an era - Australian schools might end RI

"RI" is something I cherished as a kid in the Australian school system. "RI" stands for Religious Instruction. It might shock many United States residents to know that in a majority of Australian public primary schools, an hour every week is set aside for RI. The way it worked at the schools I went to was that during that hour, the students headed off to whichever classroom was offering the religious instruction of their choice. The major religions of the community were represented, of which my faith was not one, so I would attend with my friends and had good experiences being exposed to other faiths. In grade 6 I discovered that my friend Jeffrey Tsong's faith (an eastern religion which I don't precisely recall) wasn't represented either (for at the time only Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths were being taught) so the teachers let him just roam the school for the hour since he didn't want to attend any of the other classes. I started hanging out with Jeffrey during that hour and we would play four-square hand-ball or stomp during RI. Good times, good times. Well, now it looks like RIs days are numbered in Australia. Sad times, sad times.