Madrid, Spain, Jan 16, 2007 / 15:58 pm
The president of the National Catholic Federation of Parents’ Associations in Spain, Luis Carbonel, is demanding the Ministry of Education allow parents to have a say in the contents of the controversial course “Education for Citizenship and Human Rights,” which the government is seeking to make mandatory, “in order to avoid having each local region in the country structure the course according to its own understanding of values.”
Carbonel said the contents of the controversial course should be subject to parental consent and that sections that parents object to should be excluded. As long as parents are not allowed to exercise their right to educate their children according to their own values, Carbonel argued, the teaching of this course constitutes “illegitimate interference” by the State.
Carbonel said the federation supports the voluntary nature of the new course and its emphasis on “objective” rights and obligations outlined in the Spain’s constitution and in various international treaties, such as the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.