(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The Conservative government party likes to talk warmly about both municipal and personal freedom, but Minister of Education Kristin Clemet now reveals that the words are of little value. It is in the proposal for a new independent school law that the government states that "it will take a long time before an application for approval will be rejected based on the consequences for the municipality". Clemet elaborates on Dagsavisen's position, and in short states that the municipalities should not be able to say no to private schools even when the establishment of these tears away the basis for public schools in small communities.
The Conservatives 'attitude is presented by the Minister of Education as a protection of "a basic human right – the parents' right to choose educational offers for their children".
If this were correct, it could in itself be understandable that municipal self-government had to give up. No one wants the municipalities to be able to violate human rights. But the reality in many Norwegian communities is that this right is challenged by private schools. The right to choose educational programs must also include the right to send the children to a good public school. If the public school disappears as a result of the establishment of free schools, the court becomes illusory.
And then it must be allowed to ask whether it is not a greater abuse to force parents to send their children to, for example, private, Christian fundamentalist schools, than to "force" them to use the public school.
Kristin Clemet does not close the door completely so that private schools can be stopped if the parents' freedom of choice is restricted in this way. But she also goes no further than saying that "their objections [will] be given weight". And she should therefore have nothing to do with the municipality, which is closest to assessing the village's needs, should be the ones who take a stand on private schools.
It is quite incomprehensible, and violates important principles of local self-government. If the municipality is not to be able to have real power over the school provision, their opportunities to make the municipality an inclusive community are reduced.
In this case, it is about the municipalities' ability to protect the welfare and freedom of choice of their own citizens. But the Right does not want anything.
