The same lessons for everyone

Up to now Swedish education laws have allowed parents to forbid their children from taking certain subjects on religious grounds. According to a recent study, 27 percent of girls from immigrant families did not attend sport-, swimming- or sexual education classes last year. Education minister Jan Björklund and the minister for Integration and equality, Nyamko Sabuni, now want to change the law. The newspaper approves: "Sweden is becoming an increasingly multicultural and heterogeneous society. It has become more and more common for parents to demand that their children be exempted from attending certain classes. ... With so many children affected, the exception is becoming the rule. This is not a good thing. Religion has a natural place in people's lives, but in schools religious beliefs should be discussed rather than playing a determining role."

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