Religion Classes in Belgium to be Replaced with Citizenship Classes
The country's religious education classes in French-speaking primary and secondary schools will be cut in half in October 2016 and replaced with a weekly hour of citizenship classes, over the objection of students and teachers.
The current state curriculum includes religion classes, with students having the choice of Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Protestant or “a-confessional morality.”
During the debate over the measure, the Belgian Bishops Conference released a statement emphasizing the importance of religious study in schools: “Indeed, removing the Catholic religion classes would mean relegating religious belief to the private sphere, which, for a democratic state, would be an impoverishment.”
Additionally, this change could result in religion teachers being completely forced out of the educational system because the citizenship classes must be taught by teachers considered "neutral" - without any kind of religious training, including holding degrees from non-state, religious universities.
The Collectif des Enseignants de Religion dans l’Enseignement Officiel ("Cereo"), an organization of religion teachers, argued against the measure and has appealed to the Belgian Constitutional Court, with the claim that the religion and morality classes already cover the topic of citizenship.