Schools across the UK may soon be asked to put an end to the tradition of holding assemblies that have religious meanings behind them, a report has claimed. 

The study, for the Arts and Humanities Research Council says such acts, including daily gatherings for worship, could be discriminating against people who do not follow the Christian religion. 

It went on to note that there are no clear reasons for these being carried out in many schools, adding that there are a great many parents across the UK who are not aware that they can opt to have their child withdrawn from religious assemblies. 

Based on the contributions of 10 scholars in the UK, the report argues that schools are not religious by nature, and said it is not conducive to their purpose to have these duties involved in their operation. 

At the moment, schools in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are required to provide daily acts of collective worship, and despite controversy being evident for decades, this has been the reality since 1945. 

The report goes on to say that a study in 2004 showed that 76 per cent of secondary schools were not following the law, adding that there are a number of issues with religious requirements currently in place. 

These include disagreement about the appropriateness of such acts in an increasingly multicultural UK, the degree to which the current system properly affords respect for the rights of individuals and minority group, including those with no faith and fears that the current system does little to promote community spirit or improve the spiritual/moral education of pupils.

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, chairman of the Accord Coalition which campaigns to end religious selection in schools, said: "The study is only the latest to identify major problems with how the current legal arrangements around school assemblies are working. 

"Not only do they fail to properly respect staff, parents and pupils' autonomy and rights but, because many find the current rules unworkable, a culture has been created where a great many schools rarely provide assemblies, if at all.