Putting a stop to religious schools

Private religious schools do not belong in the Swedish school system, according to the Social Democrats. 

  • Sweden's School Minister Anna Ekström. According to the party, "No student shall be subjected to religious indoctrination ... and the school shall be characterized by the values ​​and principles contained in the Constitution." Photo: Kristian Pohl/Government Offices
  • The Social Democrat party is making a promise to ban old and new religious schools in Sweden. "We are terrified by the segregation we see in the Swedish school system. And we see that with religious school teachers we also get a segregation on religious grounds. So we do not want it,” School Minister Anna Ekström (S) said at a press conference.
    According to the party, "No student shall be subjected to religious indoctrination ... and the school shall be characterized by the values ​​and principles contained in the Constitution."
    In March, Stockholm City Council member Olle Burell announced the city is halting new permits for confessional (religious) independent schools: "The religious schools contribute to further isolation. The research is clear. The starting points for (private) religious schools do not put the best interests of the child in the center, they stand in the way of knowledge, they counteract integration and reinforce segregation.” Burell calls religious schools "confessional sorting schools" and suggests they are in conflict with a democratic value base.
    Everyone doesn’t agree. The Christian Democrats' group leader Andreas Carlsson believes S offers collective punishment in closing all religious independent schools, and Archbishop Antje Jackelén with several other on Sweden's Christian Council wrote: “It is both naive and strange that the secular orientation is put forward as a remedy and confessional elements are targeted without distinction.”