Belgrade, December 28, 2015
The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church has sharply criticized the Serbian education minister Srdan Verbic for his recent proposal to abolish religious education lessons in eight forms of primary and secondary schools.
“Mr. Verbic obviously disregards the fact that the main meaning of the word “minister” is “one who serves the people”, the official statement of the Holy Synod reads. “Because he ignores the fact that 95 percent of all Serbian citizens at a free democratic procedure defined themselves as believers. Religious education as an important part of the general educational process was returned to those from whom it had been forcibly taken – and these are the citizens of Serbia. The return of religious education also means the return of human rights and civil liberties, the recognition of the state’s duty to respect the international norms and conventions that it has ratified, the departure from the ideological communist legacy in education…”
In the view of the Holy Synod, Verbic also disregards the stand of the majority of his colleagues ministers. The Synod has also criticized the minister’s proposal to abolish the so-called “civic education” school subject, which is alternative to the “religious education” subject.
Religious education, along with the civic education lessons, were introduced to Serbian schools 15 years ago. Choosing of one of the two subjects is on a voluntary basis.
