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Law Prohibits Churches and Chapels in Public Schools but Reality Is Different

April 18, 2012

Salome Achba, www.religiebi.info

There are many people in the school yard. Parents are standing in small groups and impatiently waiting for their children; supposedly the first half of the day is seemingly coming to an end. I am looking for the entrance to the Church located inside the school-building. I can enter the church through this entrance instead of using the main one.

There are a lot of people by the church entrance; mostly pupils in lower grades. They are running to and fro, probably playing tag. A boy is running fast and a second one chasing him, trying to catch him. Reaching the church entrance, the first boy stops, turns toward the Church, takes off his hat and crosses himself three times in haste. He puts on his hat and continues to run; the second boy does the same – stops, crosses himself and continues chasing his friend.

There is only a candle-selling woman in the church. Several candles are lit and spread a pleasant smell of incense inside the church. I asked the woman if there was a clergyman in the church to talk to; smiling kindly, she answered that the priest was not coming in today.. I explained to her that I was a journalist and wanted to write about the existence of churches and chapels in public schools. She looked at me in surprise but did not say anything. “Can I ask you a few questions about it?” I asked the woman, but she refused to make any comments without the priest’s permission. In spite of this, I tried to ask several questions without much success. . Finally, as a result of my persistence, I found out that the church at Tbilisi Public School # 186 was constructed   in 1999. The woman further shared with me that there are always a lot of parishioners in the church, a majority of them pupils and their parents.

Having left the church I walked around the yard for a bit, trying to talk to some parents. “What do you think about the church in the school?” I asked a woman who replied in surprise: “Strange question. What should I think of it? Of course I am happy that my child goes to the school where there is a functioning church.”

The school children themselves also seem happy with the presence of a church at their school. Mariami, a third grader, told me that she often goes to the church during breaks, lights candles and prays there.

Unlike Public School # 186, Public School # 192 does not have a church, but there is a special room in the building where pupils and teachers can go to pray.

I was surprised to enter the school without any problems. The prayer room, located on the ground floor in the foyer, was empty. Perhaps the teachers and pupils were in class. I went to a room which had a sign outside that said “School Administration”. Introducing myself to the director, I asked if she would be willing to answer some questions. However, as soon as she learned that I was a journalist and wanted to write about the school's prayer room she became irritated and, pointing at the door, requested me to leave the school building immediately.

Law as Mirage in the Desert

The Law of Georgia on General Education prohibits the placement of religious symbols for non-academic purposes in public schools. In spite of this, there are many public schools in Georgia where not only religious symbols are placed, but even churches and chapels are functioning. Naturally, the law does not apply to private schools where the administration can make their own decision on the issue.

Bishop Ioane Gamrekeli, Chair of the St. Davit Agmashenebeli Education Center under subordination of the Patriarchate of Georgia, claims that the Patriarchate does not interfere in the placement of religious symbols in public schools and the school administration makes decisions about it: “It is up to the school administration to arrange chapels and place religious symbols in public schools. The Patriarchate does not get involved. We cannot instruct school administrations to open chapels in their buildings. You know, there are chapels for Christians, Muslims, and Jews in many international airports. Everyone has the right to satisfy their religious requirements including school pupils. As for the restrictions put in place by the Law on General Education, which prohibits placement of religious symbols in classrooms, it is a completely acceptable prohibition because there might be faithless, apostates or persons with weird psychic in the school who dislike religious symbols. As for chapels in school buildings, it is voluntary to enter there. Nobody will be compelled to enter there and pray.”

According to Giorgi Gotsiridze, a lawyer with the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), the presence of chapels, praying rooms or churches does not have an educational-academic purpose in schools and thus contradicts the Law of Georgia on General Education: “According to the law, religious symbols can be placed in public schools if it has educational-academic purpose. For example, if a history teacher is teaching a class on the converting of the Georgian nation to Christianity, she/he can take St. Nino’s Cross or an ordinary cross into the classroom to show them to the pupils. The law does not prohibit this because it has an educational-academic purpose in the classroom… but if symbols are placed in the classroom for religious purposes, if pupils pray before them, it is prohibited. And chapels with icons, candles and other religious symbols in school buildings obviously do not have any educational purpose. The existence of a chapel in a school building has a religious purpose and not educational. Thus, it is in violation of Georgian laws.”

The head of the Tolerance Center at the Public Defender’s Office, Beka Mindiashvili, points out those problems remain in the implementation of the Law on General Education: “Before the state passed this law, chapels and churches were already functioning in schools. Also, clergymen regularly entered classrooms and preached during school hours. Pupils were taken to confession and to receive Eucharist. I remember one instance when a Muslim child was baptized into the Orthodox Church at school. Today, the Church no longer interferes as actively in school affairs, but the Law on General Education is not properly followed either. Groups of children are still taken to attend religious services; clergymen still enter classrooms and preach there. Moreover, teachers also often talk about Orthodox faith as the only true religion. Religious symbols are still placed in many schools; we still find chapels there,” Mindiashvili says.

Problem of Discrimination and Rejection of Minority Groups

As a representative of a religious minority, Evangelist-Protestant Pastor Shmagi Chankvetadze is also skeptical, saying that whether Orthodox or from other churches, placement of all religious symbols should be prohibited in schools:

“I am against representing the symbols of my religious confession in public schools because public school is not a space where religious symbols or feelings can be demonstrated. My child goes to a public school in Gori. One of his classmates is a Jehovah's Witness. My son told me that their lessons start with prayer and children crossing themselves afterward. That child cries at every lesson because his religion prohibits him to cross himself. Naturally, no one compels him to pray or cross himself but just imagine, all his classmates pray and cross, and he himself feels rejected. It hinders the integration of pupils with other religious faiths and school directors and teachers must consider this issue. So, I think placement of religious symbols or the conducting of religious services must not happen in public schools.”

Beka Mindiashvili, of the Tolerance Center, agrees that the placement of religious symbols in public schools discriminates pupils from religious minorities:

“We should not forget that representatives of other religious groups also go to school in Georgia. Besides that, public schools are funded from the state budget and the Orthodox population is not the only one paying taxes to the state budget. If there are Orthodox symbols or a chapel in the school, then representatives of all other religious confessions should have the right to participate in the schooling process – arranging for chapels, conducting religious services, placing their own religious symbols. Naturally, it is difficult to do because there are many religious groups in Georgia. It might also create problems of academic nature in the educational process. So, school and religion must be strictly separated in a secular state and our law stipulates that.”

So how does the presentation of symbols of the dominant religion influence a pupil from a religious minority? Does it cause a split between children of different religious background, hindering the integration of children from religious minorities? Maia Tsiramua is a children’s psychologist from the GCRT [Georgian Center for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims].

“I think the presence of religious chapels in schools shows intolerant behavior. Religious feelings are a very sensitive topic and I think schools should be a diverse space where representatives of all religious or ethnic groups are able to integrate. The more religious symbols are placed in schools, the more pupils, or groups will get isolated from others. Naturally, children usually get isolated when 19 out of 20 pupils take part in some ritual, let’s say praying, and one of them, due to his/her religious faith, does not. It splits the group and is difficult for a child to survive isolation,” Tsiramua says, adding that unfortunately teachers and school administrators do not resist and protest this treatment of pupils from religious minorities.

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