Council of State overturns exemption of pupils from religion classes

Greece’s highest administrative court on Thursday issued a ruling annulling a ministerial decision allowing schools to exempt certain pupils from attending religion classes at the behest of their parents.

In its ruling, the Council of State said that the May 2021 ministerial decision had been issued before the Data Protection Authority could examine whether the process of exempting pupils from classes violated their privacy.

The court was responding to a complaint by a group of parents who took issue with the procedure, but also with how the pupils dismissed from these classes are occupied during those hours. The complainants reportedly want these pupils to spend that time learning about a similar or related subject. 

On this latter issue, the Council of State ruled that the current procedure will stand for now, whereby the school administration and the council of parents decide how that time is spent.