“The changes proposed by the Ministry of Education regarding religious lessons in schools constitute far-reaching discrimination, segregation and exclusion of people of other faiths, and therefore also believers, from public spaces,” catechists of the Diocese of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg wrote in a letter to the Minister of Education.
Catechists of the Diocese of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg sent a letter to the Minister of Education about religious lessons, published on the diocese’s website.
In it they expressed their opposition to public announcements about changes in religious education in schools.
The attack is not just on catechists
Not only do we feel concerned about the spiritual, moral and mental development based on universal and Christian values of next generations of young people, but it also affects us directly – religious teachers who are responsible for transmitting these values in the school space for the past thirty-three years .
– wrote the catechists.
They ruled that not including the grade for religion in the average not only devalues the work of religious and ethics teachers, but especially harms students who work diligently during classes.
As they noted, “calculating the grade point average depends on the number of courses the student takes, and thus has no impact on lowering the grade point average for students who do not participate in religion classes.”
Religion grades and the exclusionary class schedule
Religious teachers also commented on plans to not include the grade for religion on the certificate, which is dictated by the standardization of certificates.
Students have had the same certificates for years – a number is entered under “religion/ethics” – without indicating which subject the student is taking, or nothing is entered.
– the teachers pointed out.
They added that the change “will result not only in a decrease in students’ motivation to learn, but especially in their unequal treatment due to the subject they study.”
They emphasized that placing religious lessons in the first and last hours of school hours will lead to teachers in this subject receiving very unfavorable lesson plans with many “windows”, which “represents the so-called occupational hygiene of a particular teacher.”
This will also contribute to students dropping out. This will also cause enormous problems for school principals responsible for organizing the curriculum. With many classes and one catechist at school this will be impossible
– we read in the letter.
School catechesis as an expression of religious freedom
They estimate that the reduction of school religious hours would result in the dismissal of many great teachers.
The letter noted that religious education is present in schools in 23 countries of the European Union and “is one of the expressions of religious freedom in the light of contemporary norms of a pluralistic democratic society and guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. “
“Students in religion classes learn to search for the meaning of life, for selfless acts for the benefit of other people, for goodness, respect, responsibility, compassion, but also for patience, forgiveness and understanding,” the teachers wrote.
They ruled that “the proposed changes involve far-reaching discrimination, segregation and exclusion of people of other faiths, and therefore also believers, from the public space.” They added that it is incomprehensible to them that “people from the Ministry of National Education, who often refer to respect for world views, slogans of tolerance, openness and equality”, want to contribute to this.
READ ALSO:
– Will Nowacka eliminate traditional student retreats? “Religious practice is important to many people, but should not be at the expense of education.”
— The Polish Bishops’ Conference responds to Minister Nowacka’s announcement about the restriction of religious lessons at school. “It has to be the voice of the majority.”
— Religious lessons and catechesis. I suggest that decision makers consider one option
PAP/rdm
Source: wPolityce