The National Education Council has locked horns with the Constitutional Court, which, on May 22, ruled to suspend sex education classes in primary and secondary schools citing “procedural errors” in the preparation of teaching materials.
According to the court, the government should have consulted parents’ groups before including the new course modules in the curriculum. In contrast, the Education Council insists that parents should not have power of decision over what is taught in schools and that the state should defend its values, which take precedence over the interests of private individuals.
Jutarnji List notes that the court was unusually quick to respond to a submission from parents’ associations closely linked to the Catholic Church, which, according to the daily, is evidence of the power of a “conservative wave” backed by the Church. In a parallel development, groups closely associated with the Church are petitioning for a referendum to include a restrictive definition of marriage as ‘the union of a man and a woman’ in the country’s constitution. They have already gathered close to 400,000 signatures.
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