Education in Argentina: public and secular? The cases of Salta and Mendoza

Abstract

In the Province of Salta, in 2010, a claim was filed by parents of students
of school age, about the entering of Catholic beliefs in public schools. Practices
such as blessing the food before school lunches, reciting the prayer “Our Father”
when raising the flag, the teaching of one and only one religion: Catholic, and the
entering of religious festivities in the school programs provoked the claim of minorities
who do not concur with it. These minorities, petitioned through a constitutional
protection defense before the proper judiciary authorities. While waiting for the
definitive sentence to be issued by the Argentinean Supreme Court, this work will analyze the sentences and finding of the different authorities in this and other cases
referring to secularism in classrooms, a topic now under debate.