Sweden's ruling political party proposes to ban religious schools to do away with segregation. The country's Social Democratic Party wants to seek better integration in its educational institutions, which will be its priority if the party wins in the general election come September.
Social Democrats expressed in a press conference that religious schools, also called confessional schools, only contribute to the divide and isolation of genders and other religions. Its members have the opinion that students should learn about equality and democratic values. The members also believe students should learn that they can form their own ideas and, at the same time, not restrict their knowledge and understanding of issues based on religious perceptions.
Minister for Public Administration and Social Democrat Ardalan Shekarabi told the press that schools should be founded based on the Swedish constitution. Growing up, Shekarabi, who has Iranian roots, went to religious schools that segregated students based on genders.
"[I will] never accept the oppression that I and many with me have fled from will find its way into the Swedish education system," the minister said.
The party's pronouncement, however, has Catholic educators in Sweden growing concerned. They cited that religious schools already abide by strict laws and restrictions, such as the ban on tuition charges and prohibition of funding from the government.
Religious schools are also not allowed to hold prayers and catechisms during classes. These establishments also follow a curriculum that the state issued.
"They just think we're run by priests and imams, as they put it," Principal Paddy Maguire of the Notre Dame Catholic School located in Gothenburg said. "We have to (abide by) Swedish law and they don't understand that," he added. The principal also stated that the general public doesn't know much about these restrictions.
Maguire also believes that the proposed ban on religious schools came about because of the increasing numbers of Muslim refugees who sought asylum in Sweden. Since 2014, the numbers of Muslim schools, which practice gender segregation as part of their religion, have doubled in the country.
