Every child should learn that abortion is an act of homicide, Poland’s Minister of Education Roman Giertych believes.

In an interview for ‘Nasz Dziennik’ daily the Minister announced changes in biology teaching curriculum including classes on human life protection.

The Ministry of Education is already preparing new curriculum for biology classes.

“In biology classes everyone should learn, among others, about human life protection. I believe that every child should learn that abortion is an act of homicide. Young people should find out in details what killing of unborn children consists in,” Roman Giertych said.

“This should be interpreted as positive approach to the issue of unborn children killing,” the Minister added.

On Monday Minister Giertych is also to sign a new obligatory reading list for school pupils. The biggest changes concern children’s books. As the Minister put it, this is because these books build a young person’s world.

“There won’t be any Gombrowicz’s works on the list. When it comes to Franz Kafka, I would not exclude his books from the list completely, even though I disagree with some of his views. ‘Lord Jim’ is also to stay for sure,” Giertych informed.

Polish students will also have to get acquainted with Pope John Paul II’s work ‘Memory and Identity’, as well as ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and ‘The Screwtape Letters’ by Christian writer C.S. Lewis.

The reading list for school pupils proposed by Education Minister Roman Giertych a month ago caused many controversies as the Ministry wanted to remove from it such leading writers as Gombrowicz, Kafka, Goethe and Dostoyevsky. (jm)