Religion is one of the classes that educational institutions have being a transmission vehicle for students to know, assimilate, believe their moral judgments, rules of conduct, history, theory, among other aspects.
According to Decree 4500 of 2006, “students exercise their right to religious freedom by choosing or not to take the religious education that is offered in their educational establishment, even if it does not correspond to their creed, and in such case to carry out the activities related to this area in accordance with the provisions of the Institutional Educational Project, PEI. This decision must be made by the parents or legal guardians of the minors or by the students if they are of legal age”.
What would happen if a school wants to impose this subject on students?
Attorney Jimmy Jiménez, founder of the Integrity Legal law firm, explained that if matter does not impose a creed, particular belief or practice, but rather imparts general and theoretical information, would not be violating any rights.
However, if the religion class intends to impose a particular creed, this would indeed be a violation of the Political Constitution of Colombia, and constitutional actions could be resorted to.
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What could the parents of a student who was sanctioned for not wanting to see the material do?
Jiménez affirmed that the parents of a student violated by their beliefs, or to whom they have been imposed, may exercise their constitutional rights, either through a right of petition or a tutela action. But what is recommended is to consult, to know the case and define if another legal strategy is appropriate, such as alternative conflict resolution mechanisms.
In Colombia, the two predominant religions are Catholicism and Christianity, and there has been much speculation about whether this decree predominates only in institutions that teach Christianity as part of their academic curriculum, however, Decree 4500 of 2006 extends to all educational institutions.
Can schools give options to their students in case they do not want to take the subject?
The lawyer pointed out that as expressly stated in the decree: “the student who chooses not to take the religious education offered by the educational establishment will be offered an alternative program, which must be provided for in the PEI based on which the student will be evaluated”, that is, alternative options will be presented so that this does not affect the periodic evaluation of the student.
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