Optional religion course will start to be taught in October by textbooks printed in 2005

Religion will be taught in schools as an optional subject from October, Minister of Education Leonid Bujor said in a news conference held at Info-Prim Neo on August 9. “Everything we did in this respect is within the law and in accordance with the international practices,” the minister said, stressing that the Moldovan Metropolitan Church’s project to make religion a compulsory school subject is a political one, Info-Prim Neo reports. Leonid Bujor said the discussions on the issue started last October. “Initially, the Moldovan Metropolitan Church proposed including religion as optional subject in the school curriculum. Afterward, it changed its position. This shows the project is political and has a well-defined objective,” the minister stated. Leonid Bujor said a working group composed of representatives of the Bessarabian Metropolitan Church, civil society, the Ministry of Education, the Institute of Education Sciences and church officials was set up to compile a guidebook, agree the curriculum and select the teachers who will teach religion. Tatiana Neculcea, senior adviser with the Ministry of Education’s Policy Analysis, Monitoring and Assessment Division who is a member of this group, said religion will be taught as an optional subject by competent teachers and church officials licensed to teach in schools. “We will not allow transforming the schools into church branches,” Leonid Bujor said in the context. The guidebook will be ready by September 1. By the same date, the teachers will be supplied with the aids enabling teaching religion. During the first year, the students will be familiarized with religious notions and conceptions and the main categories of religion studying so that they are able to continue the advanced course. The parents whose children want to study religion must file a relevant application during September 1-30. Leonid Bujor said it hasn’t been yet decided if the children will be given grades and if their will be taken tests in religion. This subject will be taught once a week by books printed in 2005. They were produced with the participation of the Moldovan Metropolitan Church.