Religious education in Turku will continue in joint classes in the autumn, despite a reprimand from the Regional State Administration Agency.
In Finnish schools, children are separated by faith for their religious education classes, and municipalities have the duty to provide religion-specific tuition if there are three children of the same faith in the year group.
In Turku, however, fifth graders and seventh graders have been taught together, with those of different religious convictions, and those with no religious convictions, receiving the same lessons in the same groups.
The Regional State Administration Agency, however, views this arrangement as breaking the law on basic education.
Anu Parantainen, who heads up services for children and young people in Turku, said that the city takes the reprimand seriously, but it was not possible to make new arrangements before the new school year starts.
She said that there has not been any negative feedback from parents about the system.
Parents have, however, contacted Yle with their complaints. The National Forum for Cooperation of Religions (USKOT) represents eight different religious denominations and is preparing a separate complaint to the agency.
"This remorselessly tramples over minorities," said Sirpa Okulov, who heads up USKOT's unit on religious education. "I was in touch with the city of Turku years ago and explained that parents are not at all satisfied with this arrangement."
Okulov is herself an Orthodox Christian.
Big city problem
Bigger cities in Finland are hoping for a greater degree of flexibility in arranging religious education. Parantainen said that in Turku, it is not possible to offer everyone education in their own religion.
It has been a challenge to find competent teachers of certain denominations of Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as Judaism.
In Tampere, Kristiina Järvelä, head of basic education, says that there have been difficulties in finding teachers for some religions.
"Nowadays, the obligation to teach different religions is really challenging both practically and financially," said Järvelä. "In addition, secular education is quite a strange concept for some religions and cultures, so monitoring the quality and teaching methods demands a lot of work."
She said that joint religious education classes help ensure equality between pupils and enable more efficient use of teaching resources.
In Helsinki, it has been possible to offer separate classes for each religion with at least three adherents. It is not necessarily in each pupil's own school, however, according to the city's head of basic education, Ville Raatikainen. Some have to travel to a different school for their religion lessons.
Questions important for minorities
Turku, on the other hand, says that joint religious education classes increase tolerance and understanding in a multicultural world.
Sirpa Okulov does not believe that is the case.
"I think it's the other way round, that a lesson in your own religion is really important for these minority students," said Okulov.
"You don't just learn religion in these lessons, you also learn about culture. From a minority pupil's perspective, it could be difficult to discuss questions about your own culture if the teacher is from a different religious tradition."
Okulov says that she regards religious education as important due to the world political situation, among other things.
Okulov was involved in the National Education Agency's working group on the development of religious education, which considered replacing religious education with joint ethics classes.
A majority of the working group, including Okulov, rejected that idea.
"It sounds nice that everyone studies together, but what exactly are they going to be taught?" asks Okulov. "If there is a desire to move to joint subject classes, religion in that case moves to be part of history and civics teaching."
