Students should sing the Slovak national anthem every morning prior to their classes, Education Minister Ján Mikolaj from the Slovak National Party (SNS) said on November 19 about a proposal prepared by his party colleagues who want to bolster patriotism by adopting such a law, the TASR newswire reported.
“We've prepared a strategy for how to raise national awareness,” said the minister for the TASR. Statehood symbols which should be installed in classrooms according to the legislation as well as singing the anthem which represent 'awareness of oneself, who and to which nation one belongs', according to Mikolaj.
“There has to be knowledge of history and perfect knowledge of one's mother tongue,” he added, claiming that support for patriotism in school children is under way in other countries as well.
According to opposition KDH party MP Martin Fronc, enforcing some things by law is not the right path. “Older people still remember when classes used to begin by singing the (Communist) labour anthem,” added former education minister Fronc.
Fronc added that whether this draft will be passed in parliament depends on political horse-trading within the governing coalition. “So many incredible things have already been approved in parliament that one can't assume whether it will be passed or not.” TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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