VHeadline News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue reports: The discussion on the new education bill continues with Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV) vice president, Monsignor Roberto Luckert rejecting charges that religious school education is indoctrination. The Church, Luckert counters, does not discriminate against other religions and its religious education in schools could be used by any religious group because "it is an education in values ... it is not a catechism that prepares children for their first communion and confirmation."

The Bishop of Coro accuses the government of wanting to impose everything straight from Cuba, especially as regards education and he dubs Education Minister Hector Navarro a "Cuban." Luckert calls on citizens to oppose the current education bill and says the church is the only institution that is putting its cards on the table, warning that the government will pass a series of laws in August when everyone else is on holiday.

• The Church, he insists, has a network of popular schools with more than 700,000 children and runs the majority of geriatric institutions in the country.

Agriculture & Lands Minister, Elias Jaua says that the education bill rescues Simon Bolivar's ideas because it recovers the national identity for children and creates a real conscience that they should value the strategic resources of the nation. "The law deals with recovering the right to teach our children that there is only one history and that is not what the oligarchy wants."

Patrick J. O'Donoghue
news.editor@vheadline.com