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9 Vienna J. on Int'l Const. L. 445 (2015)
Constitutional Court of Romania: Religion in Schools

handle is hein.journals/vioincl9 and id is 448 raw text is: ICL Journal I Vol 9 | 3/2015 | Developments CEE Constitutional Court of Romania: Religion in Schools Decision No 669 of 12 November 2014 (published in the Official Gazette Romania, No 59 of 23 January 2015) Tudorel Toader, Marieta Safta The Constitutional Court ascertained the unconstitutionality of the provisions of National Education Law which established the possibility that pupils may not attend Religion classes provided that a request in this respect is made in writing by parents or the legal guardian, because these provisions constituted an infringement of the constitutional provisions of Article 29 on freedom of conscience. The Court stated that in adopting its regulations in education, the legislature must take into account that Article 29 para 6 of the Constitution guarantees the right to religious education and not the obligation to attend Religion class- es. In this respect, free expression of options necessarily involves the person's own initia- tive to attend the subject of Religion and not the tacit consent or the express refusal to attend Religion classes. I. Facts of the Case The Constitutional Court has been notified pursuant to Article 146 lit d of the Consti- tution with the exception of unconstitutionality of the provisions of Article 9 paras 1 and 2 of the Education Law 84/19951 with subsequent amendments and supplements until the entry into force of the new law (ie Law 1/2011) and of the provisions of Article 18 paras 1 and 2 of the National Education Law 1/20112. The impugned texts regulate, on the one hand, on the inclusion of Religion in the curriculum frameworks of primary, sec- ondary and vocational education, as school subject, part of the core curriculum and, on the other hand, on the possibility that the pupil does not attend Religion classes provided that a request in this respect is made in writing by the parent, the legal guardian or the major pupil. As grounds for the exception of unconstitutionality, it was claimed that the provisions of Law 84/1995 taken over by the provisions of Law 1/2011 are unconstitutional since children are obliged to attend the subject of Religion, a situation which violates the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, both of the pupils and of their parents. It is true that the legal provisions subject to criticism enable parents to request in writing non-attendance of these classes by the pupil, but this rule does not cancel the obligation to study religion, as until such written request, the child is required to attend Religion classes. 1 Republished in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no 606 of 10 December 1999. 2 Published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no 18 of 10 January 2011. @ Verlag Osterreich 445

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