Religious Education Plan Worries Albania's Teachers

Some Albanian teachers and professors have criticised a government initiative to include religious education and history as a compulsory course in secondary and high schools.

Prime Minister Edi Rama on Friday announced the move at a ceremony commemorating the birthday of the Prophet Muhammed and the Minister of Education, Lindita Nikolla, confirmed the plan on Monday.

In an interview for Top Channel TV, the minister dismissed fears that the initiative might undermine the country's traditional secular ethos.

"The pilot project starts in September and includes five secondary schools and five high schools. We are still working on the content of the books and taking suggestions from the French Observatory of Secularism," she said.

"I want to assure [the critics] that these are not religious lessons... but will teach [pupils] about the history and culture of religion," she continued.

But many teachers believe that there is not much difference between teaching religion itself and the history of religion.

"We want to urge the minister not to rush... saying they are going to teach the culture of religion and not religion," Artan Fuga, Dean of Journalism and Communications at Tirana University, said.

Edmond Dragoti, a professor of psychology at Tirana University, told BIRN that even talking about the history and philosophy of religion in public schools goes again the secular culture of the state.

"We also don't have the luxury of talking about teaching religion in our schools when our educational institutions still lack the necessary scientific curricula," he added.

Representatives of religious faiths in Albania welcome the idea and told the media that they are already giving suggestions to the Ministry of Education...