Patriarchate of Bulgaria: Mandatory Religious Education in Schoolstranslated

The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Patriarchate of Bulgaria reaffirms its position, which it has expressed over all these years, including in draft laws with a similar thematic scope, regarding the introduction of the subject "Virtues and Religions" into the Program A curriculum for study leading to mandatory school hours. Therefore, the Holy Synod expresses its satisfaction that representatives of the people will discuss and adopt the Law on Amendments and Additions (LA) to the Law on Early Childhood and School Education (LESPEDE) in the part concerning the introduction of the new subject "Virtues and Religions" as part of the mandatory preparatory education for Bulgarian students in alternative educational programs approved by the Minister of Education and Science: with elements of catechetical education (religion – Orthodoxy and religion – Islam) and without elements of catechetical education (ethics and civic education).

In this draft law, it is proposed that the subject of Religious Education will be mandatory with an explanatory statement to explicitly state that the subject "Virtues and Religions" ...