The Croatian Constitutional Court on Wednesday abolished the Health Education Curriculum, which took effect in February, and ordered that until the adoption of a new curriculum Health Education be taught according to the curriculum that had been in force before the start of this school year.
The court assessed the constitutionality of the curriculum at the request of the civil society organisations Grozd and Reforma, the HSP 1861 party and private citizens who sought the revocation of Education Minister Zeljko Jovanovic's decision to introduce the curriculum.
Even though only the curriculum's Module 4, which deals with sexual and gender equality and sexually responsible behaviour, was disputed, the Constitutional Court decided to abolish the entire curriculum because the disputed points related to the entire document.
"In this case, the government has not fulfilled its procedural constitutional obligation to align the Health Education Curriculum in state schools with constitutional law and parental freedom to choose education for their children," Judge Mato Arlovic said.
The applicants claimed that the curriculum was in violation of the Constitution, the Education Act, the Family Act and international conventions such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
