Ceremony — religious education covers it (4)
I believe the answer is:
rite
'ceremony' is the definition.
(rite is a kind of ceremony)
'religious education covers it' is the wordplay.
'religious education' becomes 're'.
'covers' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
're' enclosing 'it' is 'RITE'.
(Other definitions for rite that I've seen before include "Religious ceremonial sounds correct" , "Tire of ceremony" , "Established religious ceremony" , "Ceremony - ritual" , "Religious ritual" .)