Comment
Events to remember
The month of April will be remembered for many things that happened for the first time.
For the first time in Macedonia, the Roma population celebrated 8 April as a national holiday in their community.
After 15 years, the civil society in Macedonia got a comprehensive picture of what has happened in the past, the influence that the civil sector’s work has had in the past period and the all the achieved values. The Macedonian Center for International Cooperation has implemented the research “Civil Society Index”, which was simultaneously being implemented in 50 other countries in the world. The research, which offers answers to many other issues regarding what was happening in the civil society in the past period, as well as its role in the society, was promoted these days. This research is an undertaking we should all be proud of.
This month there was a lot of debating on introducing the religious education in the curriculum. I would like to say a few words on that. By introducing the pluralism and broadening the democratic processes in our society, we started thinking about implementing certain changes in the education and the curriculum. The changes refer to the religious education as well, which is no longer a taboo. Thus, several years ago, a law for introducing it in the curriculum was passed, but the same one was abolished by the Constitutional Court, with the explanation that we live in a secular society and that religion is separated from the state. As a result, the religious education is only approved for the religious communities and their educational institutions. Some time ago, the Parliament has passed another law for introducing the religious education in the curriculum. Regarding the fact there are no changes in this respect in the Constitution, this law will live to experience the same destiny as the previous one. One thing is for sure – a democratic society like ours would not have been against introducing religious education in the curriculum, but we were supposed to have more extensive talks with the religious communities that are present in the country, as well as with the students, their parents, etc. Problems will still exist, not only concerning the Constitution, but also concerning the structure of the classes. It is common knowledge that in one class there are not only children from different nationalities, but also from different regions.
Is the religious education going to be compulsory or optional? Let us not forget that there is still relatively low awareness among the students and parents for accepting the diversity of the others.
Gramoz Shabani
|