RELIGIOUS education is to be scrapped in a number of Hampshire's secondary schools because of the spiralling teacher shortage.

School heads have told education bosses that they cannot teach the subject because they simply do not have the staff qualified to do the job.

Two schools - the identity of which have been kept anonymous by the county council - have already said they will remove RE from the curriculum.

And more than 90 per cent of secondary schools looking to recruit specialist teachers admit they have had problems signing up qualified candidates.

The crisis has left a question mark hanging over the level of moral guidance on offer in the county's classrooms.

Rev Richard Lindley, Winchester diocesan director of education, told the Daily Echo: "It is more important than ever that young people have an opportunity to learn about the various religious traditions, particularly to avoid some of the prejudices we have seen after September 11."

But he added: "If you do not have enough qualified teachers that leaves schools in something of a dilemma, whether it's better to teach the subject poorly or not at all.

"I have every sympathy with schools who are on the horns of that dilemma and do not know which way to act."

The local education authority's general inspector for RE, Alan Brine, admitted there was nothing stopping schools from dumping RE.

He said: "They would simply have to adjust their timetable and that would only come to light if the school was being monitored in some way or had an Ofsted inspection.

"They do not have to get permission to do it. If it did emerge, the head would have to report to the governors and explain why he was doing it."

RE is the latest subject to be hit hard by the ongoing teacher shortage in Hampshire's schools, where there are now 164 vacancies.

But in Southampton, where there are 17 primary and secondary school teaching posts left unfilled, council chiefs say there are no such problems facing the teaching of RE.

In a bid to tackle Hampshire's teacher shortage, members of the county's religious education advisory council have urged the government to take action.

Chairman Stuart Juniper has written to Secretary of State for Education Estelle Morris asking for cash perks to be freed up for RE trainees.

He told the Daily Echo: "RE is clearly very much involved with the delivery of the children's personal development and citizenship.

"There's a major shortage and I do not think it is peculiar to Hampshire. It is a national issue of recruiting and retaining teachers. It is particularly acute in RE."

Earlier this year, in a bid to tackle the general shortage, education chiefs wrote to parents encouraging any teachers who have left the profession to return to the classroom.

Three months ago the Daily Echo revealed that Testwood Secondary School in Totton had recruited seven teachers from Bulgaria.

Today, a spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said its general recruitment programme was open to RE teachers, who could apply for hardship loans.

A DfES spokeswoman said: "The Government recognises the challenge of recruiting teachers in shortage subjects.

"Introduction of training bursaries, Golden Hellos and the Fast Track scheme, plus our proposals on student loan write-offs, are all designed to help recruitment in areas like this."

The executive member for education at Hampshire County Council, Councillor Don Allen, accepted there was a shortage of RE teachers in the county.

But, he added, he was not aware of any schools planning to drop religious education from the curriculum.

He said: "I do recognise that there is a shortage of specialist teachers in a number of subjects and that does cause a problem for schools.

"Religious education looks in an academic way what various religions are about and to that extent it provides an opportunity for youngsters to experience question and challenge standards they see elsewhere. I would be concerned if it was dropped by two schools."