A course on Philosophy and Citizenship will be introduced in all public secondary schools from the 1st of September. The course, introduced in public primary education last year, will now be taught in all establishments of the French Community, those run by the communes, provinces and French Community Commission in Brussels, and some schools in the free, non-confessional network. It will be launched simultaneously in all six years of the secondary cycle.
A total of 140,000 students are concerned by the extension of the new course, which will replace one of the two hours per week dedicated to morality or religion hitherto taught in these schools. Students who so wish could replace the remaining hour with a second weekly hour of Philosophy and Citizenship.
The aim of the new course is to enable young people to develop critical, independent thinking, and to question and take ownership of citizenship in the broad sense.
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The Brussels Times
