As of: January 30, 2024, 1:01 p.m
By: Christian Deutschländer, Dirk Walter
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Split
Things are brewing between the CSU and Free Voters in Bavaria.
The reason is an initiative by Education Minister Anna Stolz: She wants to make it possible for primary schools to reduce one hour of religion.
Munich – A religious war in the Bavaria coalition?
Is there even a risk of a schism, i.e. a separation?
It's probably not that far.
But in the dispute over the importance of religious education in primary schools, the positions are initially irreconcilable.
The CSU wants to block any cuts in religious education, while the Free Voters support their culture minister's concept.
On Thursday, Anna Stolz (FW) caused a surprise in the state parliament's education committee.
Due to the poor PISA results, she wants to increase German and mathematics lessons in primary school.
But because the total number of hours cannot increase, cuts have to be made somewhere - and Stolz doesn't want to exclude religion either.
Prime Minister Markus Söder confirmed the CSU veto.
“There are no cuts in religion.” © Peter Kneffel/dpa
Possible cuts in religious education: Numerous complaints about the Minister of Education's plans
After the Munich Merkur reported on Friday, the protest swelled.
First the Diocesan Council of Catholics complained, then State Chancellor Florian Herrmann (CSU) took a stand.
Ute Eiling-Hütig (CSU), chairwoman of the education committee in the state parliament, also confirmed: “Personally, I don’t want to cut back on religious education.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Markus Söder confirmed the CSU veto.
“There are no cuts in religion.” That was “more of a communicative misunderstanding,” he told journalists with a view to Stolz's appearance in the state parliament.
This is “not about doing a favor to the churches, but about educating people about values.”
Söder reiterated his suggestion to question English teaching in primary schools.
On the other hand, the leader of the Free Voters' parliamentary group, Florian Streibl, supports the minister's approach: "I support the plans of Education Minister Anna Stolz," he explained when asked by our newspaper.
“As a Catholic theologian, I support religious education and Christian values education.” But: “Nevertheless, I also believe that including the subject of religion in the flexibilization of the timetable in primary schools is appropriate and sensible.” Simone Fleischmann from BLLV supports this line: “ In my opinion, religion cannot be ruled out either.”
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More German and math: Other school subjects have to believe in it in Bavaria
Although church ties are also dwindling in Bavaria, the vast majority of primary school students still attend religious classes.
Of the 110,000 third graders, almost half (52,700) were registered for Catholic religious education in the 2022/23 school year.
Another 23,500 attended Protestant religions.
30,700 students were registered for ethics and 3,200 students for Islamic classes (of which there are only some).
Bavaria's Education Minister Anna Stolz wants to strengthen math and German with a Pisa offensive.
To achieve this, other subjects have to be shortened.
Her suggestion to also cut religious instruction was not well received by her colleagues.
© astrid Schmidhuber
It seems unclear how the cuts dispute will end.
Anna Stolz wants to present an “orientation framework” in a few weeks.
All subjects that can be shortened should be named.
What's interesting is that the need for cuts is greater than many people think due to the increase in German and math.
An hour each also has to be shortened in the 1st and 2nd grades, but there is no English there.
In the 4th grade, three hours have to be cut - just eliminating the two English lessons is not enough.
Despite everything: No, he doesn't see a dispute, says FW boss Hubert Aiwanger.
“Here comes a sensible, pragmatic solution.”
(Dirk Walter and Christian Deutschländer)