A considerable increase in registration in private Italian Jewish schools was foreseen today following an announcement by the Ministry of Education that a 1955 decree requiring education in the Catholic religion will be fully applied commencing with the next school term.
The decree, No. 503, states that education, particularly in the elementary schools, must have as a basis, education in the religion professed by the majority of Italian citizens. The overwhelming majority of the Italian people is Catholic. The Union of Italian Jewish Communities is planning to publish new textbooks for use in the Jewish schools in which principles of the Jewish religion would form the basis, rather than Catholic doctrine.
Sharp criticism of the decree was voiced here by a special congress of the parents-teachers association of the public schools. The congress protested that the elementary school curriculum was not based on the Italian Constitution but on the principles of the 1939 Concordat between Italy and the Vatican.
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