System of public education in countries with a secular government
Secular education is a system of public education in countries with a
secular government or
separation between
religion and
state.
History
Secular educational systems were a modern development intended to replace religious ecclesiastical and rabbinic schools (like the
heder) in Western Europe. Secular schools were to function as a cultural foundation to diffuse the values of a human culture that was a product of man's own faculty for reason.
This contrasted against religious education which placed value on tradition - knowledge that was "revealed" - instead of the "human values through which manifested the uniqueness of the human being in nature as a creature who is himself a creator, a being who shapes his environment and who fashions himself within that environment". For Jews the ideal was the Maskil, the Jewish equivalent of Enlightenment philosophers or humanists.[1]
While some religious groups are hostile to secularism and see such measures as promoting
atheism,[2][better source needed][unreliable source?] other citizens claim that the display of any religious symbol constitutes an infringement of the
separation of church and state and a discrimination against atheist, agnostic and non-religious people.
Other
In
Turkey the promotion of
Imam Hatip Islamic schools by the government[3] following the March 2012 education reform bill, allegedly alarmed some Turkish citizens.[4] The Education Reform Bill was written without public debate or even discussion in the
Ministry of National Education's own consultative body; it did not even figure in the government’s 2011 election manifesto. Besides undermining
Turkish secularism, the new measures would undermine educational standards and deepen
social inequalities, according to education specialists. Turkey’s leading universities, including
Sabancı University,
Boğaziçi University,
Middle East Technical University and
Koç University, all issued press statements describing the reforms of 2012 as hastily conceived, retrograde and out of step with current thinking.[5]
In 2009 a new body was formed, the Australian Secular Lobby, to promote secular education in
Australia.[10]
In
Southern Thailand, the secular educational system is being undermined by
insurgent groups by means of the destruction of schools and the assassination of teachers.[11]