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Ukrainian religious organizations will cooperate in education

The Public Council on Matters of Cooperation with Churches and Religious Organizations recently began its work at Ukraine’s Ministry of Education, reports RISU. “In our opinion, this public council should be a kind of locomotive which will primarily be able to lobby positively for the development of new legislative acts.” So said Assistant Minister of Education Pavlo Polianskyi on 23 December 2008, during the first meeting of the council at the ministry.

The first question on the agenda of the meeting was the election of the council’s head and assistant head. A national deputy, the assistant head of the Christian Democratic Union, Volodymyr Marushchenko, was elected the head, and a member of the board of directors of the Ukrainian Association for Religious Freedom, Yurii Reshetnikov, was elected assistant head.

The council’s secretary will be elected on a rotating basis, that is, a new person for each meeting. A delegated representative of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Oksana Senchuk, was elected the first secretary.

During the second part of the meeting, the plan of activity of the council in 2009 was discussed. At the next meeting, on 10 February, the council will deal with the first two questions: proposals of churches and religious organizations regarding cooperation with the ministry and local educational administrative structures and consideration of the present situation of the development of private education in Ukraine.

During the next year, the public council will consider: questions regarding the role of religious educational institutions in the national education system; proposals as to a standard for the speciality “theology” and including it in a formal list of professions; as well as the teaching of courses with a spiritual and moral character, and producing textbooks and training teachers for that discipline. The question of religious tolerance in the educational process is another issue to be considered by the council. The draft plan of actions is currently at the stage of discussion in individual churches and religious organizations. It will be approved at the next meeting.

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TAGS: Ukrainу religious organizations cooperation education Christian Democratic Union religious tolerance

[12/29/2008]

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