System of public education in countries with a secular government
Secular education is a system of public education in countries with asecular government orseparation betweenreligion andstate.
Secular educational systems were a modern development intended to replace religious ecclesiastical and rabbinic schools (like theheder) in Western Europe. Secular schools were to function as a cultural foundation to diffuse the values of a human culture that was a product of man's own faculty for reason.
This contrasted against religious education which placed value on tradition - knowledge that was "revealed" - instead of the "human values through which manifested the uniqueness of the human being in nature as a creature who is himself a creator, a being who shapes his environment and who fashions himself within that environment". For Jews the ideal was theMaskil, the Jewish equivalent of Enlightenment philosophers or humanists.[1]
Actions and controversies
[edit]Banning of religious symbols
[edit]In theFrench public educational systemconspicuous religious symbols have been banned in schools.
While some religious groups are hostile to secularism and see such measures as promotingatheism,[2][better source needed][unreliable source?] other citizens claim that the display of any religious symbol constitutes an infringement of theseparation of church and state and a discrimination against atheist, agnostic and non-religious people.
- InTurkey the promotion ofImam Hatip Islamic schools by the government[3] following the March 2012 education reform bill, allegedly alarmed some Turkish citizens.[4] The Education Reform Bill was written without public debate or even discussion in theMinistry of National Education's own consultative body; it did not even figure in the government’s 2011 election manifesto. Besides underminingTurkish secularism, the new measures would undermine educational standards and deepensocial inequalities, according to education specialists. Turkey’s leading universities, includingSabancı University,Boğaziçi University,Middle East Technical University andKoç University, all issued press statements describing the reforms of 2012 as hastily conceived, retrograde and out of step with current thinking.[5]
- In Italy theLautsi v. Italy case was brought before theEuropean Court of Human Rights regarding the display ofcrucifixes in classrooms of state schools.[6][7][8]
- InRomania theCNCD Decision 323/2006 was brought to the CNCD by Emil Moise, a teacher and parent fromBuzău County, regarding the public display ofOrthodox icons in classrooms and was supported by some high-profile activists.[9]
- In 2009 a new body was formed, theAustralian Secular Lobby, to promote secular education inAustralia.[10]
- InSouthern Thailand, the secular educational system is being undermined byinsurgent groups by means of the destruction of schools and the assassination of teachers.[11]
