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The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MŠMT) leadership discussed the draft of new framework educational programs for primary education last week. "The conclusions from this debate will be incorporated into the revised educational programs so that they can be approved by the end of this year," the ministry wrote on the X network.
Teachers and parents expressed the most opinions on the proposals for changes to educational programs for kindergartens and elementary schools, the National Pedagogical Institute (NPI) reported. Parents' voices were the most critical.
According to the NPI, more than 4 thousand comments were processed , of which more than 3 thousand related to primary education, the rest to preschool education.
Gender issues as a special point
The biggest discussions took place around the so-called gender theme or gender ideology. The parent group showed "stronger disagreement, especially when it came to the inclusion of gender themes (21%)," the NPI report states. Disagreement was also expressed by 3% of teachers and 3% of experts who responded to the changes with comments. The NPI published a report on the results of the responses to the objections raised .
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports considers the topic of gender (sex and its psychological "variants" and "orientations") and so-called "gender equality" to be key and dedicates a special section to it .
"The strategy brings measures that will help equalize the position of men and women in relation to parenthood, ensure greater availability of kindergartens and nurseries, increase the transparency of wages, lead to an increase in the share of women in public decision-making, improve the availability of services for victims of domestic and sexual violence, and support education in the fight against gender stereotypes," declares Radan Šafařík, Director of the Department of Gender Equality of the Government Office.
In educational programs, the NPI specifically states that words like "principal" or "students" are used in the masculine gender, but "they apply to persons of all genders," and that "the document fully respects gender equality," so that its readers do not think that the document discriminates against women by not using words like principal and student.
"We have partially adjusted the personal and social competencies with regard to diversity, prejudice and self-reflection," states the NPI, adding that it has included topics such as "respect for diversity", "gender equality" and "respect for otherness" in the educational programs.
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