"IN THE SIGN OF REBELLION"

IN THE SIGN OF REBELLION Parents from a Zagreb school pulled children out of class who, they claim, are forced to attend religious education 'My son was told to sit in the back seat and put on his headphones, but that he had to stay in the classroom' Writes: Jutarnji HRPublished: September 15, 2020 8:37 PM 8673239 Illustration / Luka Gerlanc / Cropix Facebook Twitter Messenger E-mail Parents of 6th grade students, who do not normally attend religious education at the Ivan Meštrović Elementary School in Zagreb, on Tuesday morning, as a sign of rebellion, agreed to pull their children out of school during a block of religious education, after which they returned to 5 and 6 o'clock. , writes Telegram . Kristina Ercegović , the mother of one of the sixth-graders who does not attend religious education, said that the point was not for parents to spend their working hours and take their children out of school, but for the school to take care of students who do not listen to religious education. In her son's class, a quarter of the 28 students do not go to religious education, and this school year the issue of religious education in the middle of the schedule has been "resolved" in a stigmatizing and discriminatory manner. - They were given verbal instructions that those who do not attend it, during religious education must stay in class and sit in the back row and put on headphones - said Ercegović. She also said that in previous years, children at school were taken care of if religious instruction was in the middle of the schedule. - They would be escorted to the library, where they could write homework, take a walk and there was no problem. They have to take care of the children, and now they won't because of the crown, which is an excuse for them to violate their rights - she said. RELATED NEWS Illustration SECOND CHOICE Religious education in primary schools gets an alternative: Fuchs revives the idea from his first term REACTION OF THE PRIME MINISTER Plenković on religious education in schools and religious content at events: 'This is our identity' She doesn't care, she says, whether they let them into the library or the playground, "whether they organize ethics or something like that, but it's not okay to keep them in the room and tell them to put on headphones." A representative of the parents also contacted the class teacher, who said that he understood everything, but that he could not do anything and that they should contact the principal. They forwarded everything to director Milivoje Magerl, who, as he claims, has not yet sent them any answer. Among other things, his parents suggested that he organize religious instruction online. - If we had everything online in lockdown for four months, why wouldn't religious education be online, Ercegović wonders, waiting for the director's answer. She is resolute in the view that this problem must be solved. - We are a secular state, we have the right to choose, after all, it is an elective subject that is the only one that must be in the middle of the schedule - she told Telegram .