The Committee on Human Rights, Religions and Citizens' Complaints to the 52nd National Assembly adopted two of the three bills for amendments to the Preschool and School Education Act, related to the introduction of a subject on religion and virtues. The bills of "Progressive Bulgaria" and GERB received eight votes "for" and one "abstention", while the proposal of "We Continue the Change" was rejected with one vote "for", six "against" and one “abstained“.
The first bill was submitted by Dimitar Zdravkov and a group of MPs from “Progressive Bulgaria“. The second was submitted by Nikolay Denkov and MPs from “We continue the change“, and the third was submitted by Krasimir Valchev and Toma Bikov from GERB. The parliamentary Committee on Education and Science is leading the three proposals.
Religious communities insist on equality
The meeting was attended by members of the National Council of Religious Communities in Bulgaria, including representatives of the Muslim Confession, the United Evangelical Churches, the Catholic Exarchate in Bulgaria, the Central Israelite Council and the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The Council welcomes the idea of a clearer presence of virtues, moral values and knowledge of religions in Bulgarian schools. However, the organization insists that the change be accompanied by guarantees for freedom of conscience, equality of religions and the secular nature of state education.
“Particular attention deserves real access to confessional education“, the National Council points out.According to the organization, the 8 percent threshold provided for in some of the draft laws may put small religious communities in a different position. The council believes that if there is interest from students and parents, workable solutions should be sought even with a small number of applicants. The introduction of the new subject, according to representatives of religious communities, should be carried out in close cooperation with the main religions.
Sources: BTA