Priests demand making religion compulsory school subject with free attendance

A number of Chisinau priests consider religion should be included as compulsory subject in the school program, but attendance should be free, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on July 23, priest Ghenadie Valuta, the head of the NGO “Pro Ortodoxia”, said the given practice is used in many countries. The course is optional, but the students are obliged to attend it if they choose it. “The Ministry of Education pursues an electoral goal. Religion has been an optional subject since 1999. We want it to be made a mandatory subject so that the students attending it do not abandon it later,” said Ghenadie Valuta. If the authorities accept this proposal, the teachers of religion will have guarantees that their salaries will be maintained, he added. Priests Ion Grigoras and Ioan Solomon stressed that the Church does not interfere in the state and school affairs and will not go to school to hold services or oblige the children to genuflect. However, from educational standpoint, the Church should be near the parents and students, while the school should make religion equal in relation to other subjects. “The Church does not engage in politics. The Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Justice preferred to judge the people’s right to referendum on the basis of blind reasons,” said Ghenadie Valuta. On July 21, the Supreme Court of Justice rejected the challenge filed by the group that pleads for the inclusion of the Basis of Orthodoxy as a compulsory subject in the curricula, upholding the Chisinau Court of Appeals’ decision whereby the Central Election Commission’s decision to allow the initiative group to collect signatures in favor of a consultative referendum on the issue was annulled. Meanwhile, religion was confirmed as an optional subject by a Government Decision.