Stand of Grand Mufti’s Office regarding the Bill on pre-school and school education

Stand of Grand Mufti’s Office of the Muslim Denomination in the Republic of Bulgaria

Regarding: Bill on pre-school and school education No. 454-01-51, submitted to the 43^rd National Assembly by a group of MPs on 21^st of November, 2014.

The management of the Muslim Denomination, after getting acquainted with the proposals made by its structures in the country – regional mufti’s offices, Muslim boards of trustees, High Islamic Institute and secondary religious schools, regarding the new bill on a Law on pre-school and school education, considers that after its adoption the law sets as a main commitments reforms which are going to contribute for the equal access and quality of education based on the democratic principles for the children and the students of all citizens of the country. Being citizens of a country from the European Union we believe that the law will also have its responsibility for the protection and the preservation of the ethno-cultural diversity.

In the very first year of the democratic changes in our country are opened the secondary religious schools and the High Islamic Institute which are main sources for the preparation of the necessary personnel to serve the people professing the Islam. The management of the Muslim Denomination pays a special attention and sets as its main priority the necessary personnel to be educated in the country. That is why we approve the present status of the secondary religious schools, which will be further strengthened with the adoption of the bill and we also hope that the High Islamic Institute will receive its accreditation. We do believe and expect that in the near future the secondary religious schools will receive the subsidies from the state budget which they deserve. Starting from the traditions – the clergymen in their practical work use their mother language, which the necessity these disciplines to be taught on a mother’ language.

Already more than 10 years the subject “Religion-Islam” has been studied. Confessional education gives a good reflection on moral, discipline and the behavior of the students. That is why we would like to propose the subject “religion” to be equalized with the others. This on its side will also raise the necessity to have and specialists from the main Denominations in the national and regional structures of education.

In order the mentioned proposals to the bill to find realization we would like to make the following concrete proposals in it:

1. In Art. 11, para.2 at the end of the text, instead of point to put a comma and to add the following text: “…except in cases when this is done in specialized religious schools”.

Where the entire text becomes as follows:

(2) In the system of the pre-school and school education is not allowed imposition of ideological and/or religious doctrines, except in cases when this is done in specialized religious schools”.

2. In Art. 50, para.4 we propose the following sentence to be added at the end of the text: “They also receive funds from the state budget under the conditions and in accordance with this law”.

Where the entire text will be the following:

(4) The religious schools are financed by the relevant religious denomination under the conditions and in accordance with the Law on the Religious Denominations. They also receive funds from the state budget under the conditions and in accordance with this law”.

3. In Art. 197 we propose to add para.6 with the following text:

“(6) Where important circumstances require the attendance of the student in clothing or appearance in violation of the Rules of the School, s/he can appear in these clothing or appearance without being removed from school as long as these circumstances exist”.

4. In Art. 215 we propose to add new para.5 with the following text:

“(5) The directors of the specialized religious schools are appointed by a central body of the relevant religious denomination in accordance with the rules of that denomination.”

And the present paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 respectively become – 6, 7 and 8.

5. In Art. 228 we propose to add new p. 2 with the following text:

“2. Legal persons, registered under the Law on the Religious Denominations”.

And the present p.2 respectively becomes p.3

6. In Art. 256 we propose to add a new para.3 with the following text:

“(3) The director of the specialized religious school manages the educational activities in the institution within the limits of the powers, determined by the state educational standard for the status and professional development of teachers, directors and other pedagogical specialists. The relevant authorities of the religious denomination can authorize the director with other powers as well, related to the management, the representation and the control of the institution”.

And the present para.3 becomes para.4.

7. In Art. 259 we propose to add para.4 with the following text:

“(4) When the director of the religious school is absent his deputy shall be appointed by the relevant authorities of the religious denomination”.

8. In Art. 285 we propose to add para.8 with the text:

“(8) The rules under para.1-7 are applied also to the specialized religious schools”.

9. In Art. 286 we propose the words “from private kindergarten or private school” to be replaced with “from private kindergarten, private school or from specialized religious school” and the entire text becomes as follows:

“Art. 286. When a violation of the regulations, committed by a private kindergarten, private school or specialized religious school, is found, as well as in cases of low educational results, determined by the methodology under Art. 282, para.4, the Minister of Finance on the proposal of the Minister of Education and Science stops the state subsidy until the violations are eliminated.”

10. In paragraph 1, p.8 of the Additional provisions, we propose to be completely changed in the following way:

“p.8. “Mother language” is the language, spoken by the ethnos to which the person is self-determined or is spoken by the ethnos to which are self-determined one or both the parents of this person.”

11. We propose everywhere in the law the words “recognized religious institution” to be replaced with the words “religious institution”.

In this connection we propose to add in para.1 of the AP, p.24 with the following text:

“24. “Religious institution” is an institution within the meaning of paragraph 3, p.3 of the Law on Religious Denominations, as well as the Bulgarian Orthodox Church by Art.10 of the Law on Religious Denominations”.

12. In paragraph 6 we propose to add the new para.7 with the following text:

 “(7) Existing schools registered as religious under Art. 30 of the repealed Law on National Education retain their status.”

13. In paragraph 14, we propose the words “for the private kindergarten and private schools” to be replaced with “for the private kindergarten, private schools and the specialized religious schools”, and the entire text becomes as follows:

“Subsidy from the state budget under the conditions and in accordance with this law is provided by the budgetary year 2018 for the private kindergarten, private schools and specialized religious schools, entered in the register of the institutions in the system of the pre-school and school education”.