04/10/2012 Session
Strasbourg, 04.10.2012 – PACE has called on Europe’s governments to ensure the viability and quality of public-run schools, while upholding the right to establish and run private schools as part of the national education system, provided they meet certain standards.
In a resolution based on a report by Carmen Quintanilla (Spain, EPP/CD), the Assembly said Council of Europe member States should respect parents’ right – spelled out in a Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights – to have their children taught “in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions”, insofar as these are compatible with the Council of Europe’s fundamental values.
However private schools which are part of the national education system should not encourage “communitarian segregation”, the Assembly said, and should nurture critical thinking and cultural openness.