President Ivan Gašparovič signed the recently passed amendment to the State Symbols Act on Tuesday, May 4, Margita Ivaničková from president's press office announced, as reported by the TASR newswire.
In line with the amendment, the Slovak flag, the words of the Slovak national anthem and the preamble to the Slovak Constitution must be displayed in every school classroom. The document also includes a requirement, submitted by Education Minister Ján Mikolaj (a nominee of the Slovak National Party (SNS)), that “patriotic education” should become a part of the curricula at each level of the school system.
According to the amendment, which is due to come into effect as of September, the flag and preamble should also be placed in rooms in which sessions of local councils and regional parliaments take place. The national anthem must be played or sung before every local council, regional parliament, government and national parliament session.
State-owned public broadcasters Slovak Radio and Slovak Television will be obliged to include the national anthem in their schedules at the close of every day between 23.30 and 00.30. The anthem must be broadcast between two programmes, but not as a part of a commercial break. In addition, the anthem should be played at the beginning of every sporting event. The bill, which was passed by the Slovak Parliament on April 27, was drawn up by Prime Minister Robert Fico and backed MPS from his Smer party as well as MPs from its partners in the governing coalition, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the SNS.
Source: TASR
For more information about the amendment and the bill, please see: SNS initiative fizzles as Patriot Act fails to secure support in parliament and Slovak Parliament passes State Symbols Act amendment to second reading.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
