A dozen Muslim families who recently arrived in Canada have told Winnipeg's Louis Riel School Division that they want their children excused from compulsory elementary school music and coed physical education programs for religious and cultural reasons.
"This is one of our realities in Manitoba now, as a result of immigration," said superintendent Terry Borys. "We were faced with some families who were really adamant about this. Music was not part of the cultural reality."
Borys said the school division has alerted Education Minister Nancy Allan about the situation since music and phys-ed are compulsory in the province's elementary schools. [Winnipeg Free Press] Read more
