Krasnodar Territory: 88 percent of pupils select Fundamentals of Orthodoxy as the course of religion basics

On September 1, nearly 52,000 pupils of the Krasnodar Territory, who go to the fourth form, will be the first to learn the "Fundamentals of religious cultures and secular ethics". Over 88 percent of them chose to learn the Orthodoxy module among the world religions studied in this subject.

The course of "Fundamentals of religious cultures and secular ethics" was put on the curriculum of all the schools in the country. It consists of six modules: Orthodox, Islamic, Buddhist and Jewish cultures; basics of the world religious cultures; and secular ethics. Pupils and their parents had a choice of modules to study – based on their philosophy and moral principles.

Over 88 percent of the fourth year schoolchildren of the Krasnodar Territory made their choice in favour of the "Fundamentals of Orthodox culture", while on the average over Russia this choice was made by les than a third of pupils, the "Delovaya Gazeta. Yug" reports with reference to a source from the press service of the Krasnodar Territory.

The Orthodox culture has been studied as an option at schools of the territory for over 5 years.

"Until now, the lessons of Orthodoxy were taught as an optional course. It was not mandatory, and the attitude to it was also probably superficial. Now, when it is a main subject, the attitude of all the stakeholders – teachers, pupils, parents and authorities – will be completely different," the ITAR-TASS quotes the Vice-Governor Galina Zolina.

For comparison, in Volgograd, the module of "Secular ethics" was the most popular – it was preferred by about 70 percent of parents; then goes the module of "Fundamentals of Orthodox culture" – a little more than 17 percent; then – "Fundamentals of world religious cultures" – 12 percent; the "Basics of Islamic culture" – a "very small percentage", Vera Venikova, the deputy head of the Department of Education of the Volgograd Administration, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.