Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Friday that he will seek the help of government experts on extremism in the wake of a series of school arsons. Officials believe the attacks are connected to a controversial sexual education school program.
De Croo spoke just hours after a sixth school in the French-speaking Wallonia region was torched this week. Signs protesting the so-called Evras program were discovered in some of the schools, according to authorities.
The program is a required four hours of training for students aged 11 to 12 and 15 to 16, intended to help them develop their relational and sexual lives. The program had been around and available for all age groups for years, but was not compulsory until now.
“In a democracy like ours, we will never allow our schools to be a target,” De Croo said. “We live in a country of tolerance, and tolerance means we can have a debate, different points of view, but it can never lead to violence, especially in places frequented by our children.”
“I would like to call on everyone to calm down and try once again to cut through the lies circulating about the Evras system,” the education minister in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Caroline Desir, said Friday. “No, it does not prepare a pedophile system. No, it doesn’t plan to make children want to change gender. No, it doesn’t plan to teach children how to engage in sexual activities.”
“These are arson attacks on schools, which are sacred places,” he told Sudinfo media. “They are places where children learn respect and tolerance.”