Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

EDUCATION

Teacher in France suspended for reading Bible to pupils in class

A teacher in central France has been suspended after he read passages of the bible to his primary school pupils. Educagtion authorities in the staunchly secular country have been accused of overreacting.

Published: 2 March 2017 16:57 CET
Teacher in France suspended for reading Bible to pupils in class
A file photo of a French school. Photo: AFP
The teacher was suspended from his school in Malicornay, in the department of Indre, after reading Bible passages to pupils aged between nine and 11.
 
Parents of pupils in the class objected to the teacher's lessons, writing an anonymous letter to the headmaster in complaint, reported France Bleu radio.
 
The headmaster then decided to suspend the teacher for his apparent disregard of France's strict secularism laws that separate religion from public sphere, in particular in education. 
 
A substitute teacher has been called in while the national education board reviews the case. 
 
The local mayor said that the suspension was a “disproportionate measure” and that the teacher was actually “very much appreciated” by the pupils and parents. 
 
France takes the principal of secularism – or laïcité as it is called in French – very seriously, however it is unusual to hear of a teacher being suspended for reading a passage from the Bible.
 
Teachers are indeed allowed to teach about holy books like the Bible or Koran, but they are strictly forbidden from attempting to convert students or preach about a religion. 
 
A desire to reinforce secularism and keep religion out of French schools was taken in September 2013 when each establishment was ordered by law to put a charter.
 
The document must appear in a prominent place in every school, in the form of a poster and was designed to remind teachers and pupils of a list of 15 secular, Republican principles.
 
France unveils 'secular charter' for all schools

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

EDUCATION

Sweden’s Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

Sweden's opposition Social Democrats have called for a total ban on the establishment of new profit-making free schools, in a sign the party may be toughening its policies on profit-making in the welfare sector.

Published: 18 April 2024 16:09 CEST
Sweden's Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

“We want the state to slam on the emergency brakes and bring in a ban on establishing [new schools],” the party’s leader, Magdalena Andersson, said at a press conference.

“We think the Swedish people should be making the decisions on the Swedish school system, and not big school corporations whose main driver is making a profit.” 

Almost a fifth of pupils in Sweden attend one of the country’s 3,900 primary and secondary “free schools”, first introduced in the country in the early 1990s. 

Even though three quarters of the schools are run by private companies on a for-profit basis, they are 100 percent state funded, with schools given money for each pupil. 

This system has come in for criticism in recent years, with profit-making schools blamed for increasing segregation, contributing to declining educational standards and for grade inflation. 

In the run-up to the 2022 election, Andersson called for a ban on the companies being able to distribute profits to their owners in the form of dividends, calling for all profits to be reinvested in the school system.  

READ ALSO: Sweden’s pioneering for-profit ‘free schools’ under fire 

Andersson said that the new ban on establishing free schools could be achieved by extending a law banning the establishment of religious free schools, brought in while they were in power, to cover all free schools. 

“It’s possible to use that legislation as a base and so develop this new law quite rapidly,” Andersson said, adding that this law would be the first step along the way to a total ban on profit-making schools in Sweden. 

SHOW COMMENTS