Parents can veto Civic Education, says Madrid 07/03/2008 00:00

Parents will have the right to decide whether their children will attend classes in the new Civic Education subject in the next school year.

7 March 2008

MADRID - Parents will have the right to decide whether their children will attend classes in the new Civic Education subject in the next school year, according to Esperanza Aguirre, Madrid's Popular Party (PP) regional premier.

The announcement by the Madrid regional government comes just two days after a court ruling in Andalusia which backed parents' right to "conscientiously object" to the subject introduced by Spain's Socialist government.

Madrid's regional government says it expects authorities to receive an "avalanche" of requests by parents to exempt their children, and that schools will have to provide alternative subjects, possibly including Religion. Civic Education has met resistance from the Church, which was also angered by the government's decision to remove Religion from the graded part of the school syllabus.

[Copyright EL PAÍS 2008]