Former Minister of Defense and head of the Security and Information Service Valeriu Pasat insists on holding a referendum on the introduction of the subject “The Bases of Orthodoxy” in schools in Moldova. Valeriu Pasat said he submitted a related initiative to the Parliament a month ago, but has not yet received an answer, Info-Prim Neo reports. Valeriu Pasat argued that the Orthodox Christians make up 94.3% of the Moldovan population. An initiative group composed of priests, teachers and parents of students from all over the county was set up to promote the initiative. Under the initiative submitted to the Parliament, “The Bases of Orthodoxy” will be a mandatory subject that will be taught by combining informative and formative principles for children from Orthodox families. Only the informative principle will be used for the children from non-Orthodox families. Valeriu Pasat expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that religion has been an optional subject in some schools for 10 years and there are no special textbooks on religion. Victor Josu, one of the members of the initiative group, said the introduction of this subject will not violate the rights of the children from non-religious families. He informed that a joint commission will be created in the middle of April to draft the bill and inform the population about the aims of the referendum. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, Minister of Education Leonid Bujor said it takes time to organize a referendum. “We consider that this subject should remain optional for the time being so as not to arouse controversy,” the minister said. He also said that the chairwoman of the parliamentary commission for education, culture, research and mass media Corina Fusu was informed about this viewpoint when she consulted the Ministry of Education about Valeriu Pasat's bill.