New Christian school controversial in Norway
Pupil at the Christian Bjerkely school in Norway. Photo Bjerkely school
Northern Europe
The Pentecostal Jesus Church in Norway is establishing a new primary school. However, their plans have met much resistance.
Church leader couple Stephan and Anne Christiansen are busy in the process of setting up a new Christian primary school, called Hans Nielsen Hauge, in Oslo and Nordre Follo. They received permission from the municipality on their plans for accommodation for the new school, Dagen reports. The idea was that the primary school would move into an empty room at Kolbotn School. Both the municipality and the school had already agreed to this.
However, even though the municipality technically had a green light to sign the agreement, it did not do so yet. Now, several municipal council representatives seem to object and demand a legal assessment of the contract first.
Several political parties in the council do not find it a good idea to locate a Christian school within the building of another school, Oavis reports.
The Socialist Left Party is pertinent against religious schools in general. "Children need knowledge, not a hallelujah mood", spokesperson Nicholas Wilkinson writes in response. "I am afraid that this "school," says that homosexuality is wrong, and I do not accept that children and young people are ashamed if they love others."
Local politicians Oddbjørn Lager Nesje and Håkon Heløe, find the arrangement “absurd”, Dagen reports. They believe it "is very demanding to place a Christian private school inside a public primary school." They also complain that the municipal council was informed late about the issue.
Demand
Even though other parties did think it was a good idea to use the vacant room of the Kolbotn school for the new private school, several municipal council representatives have now submitted a demand for a legality check. The main reason is that they do not believe that the municipality has involved the Parent Council's work committee (FAU) and the collaboration committee of Kolbotn School sufficiently. That was confirmed by the municipal director in Nordre Follo, Øyvind Henriksen, Dagen reports.
In practice, this may mean that the opening of the school is delayed. "We must make a new assessment on whether we have done everything correctly in accordance with the Education Act. We must also consider whether this principle should have been dealt with in the municipal council as a matter, not just as a briefing. If so, this must happen at the next municipal council meeting on May 3", Hendriksen said to Verdinytt.
This may be a problem for Hans Nielsen Hauge primary school. They received approval for their establishment already in 2021. This permission, however, is only valid for three years. Therefore, the school must be up by autumn 2023. Otherwise, the approval will expire.
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