An exercise to determine the demand for ethics education in State schools is finally under way after repeated complaints by parents who felt their children were not being offered an adequate alternative to religion lessons.

Parents of students in State schools have in the last few days received a questionnaire from the Education Ministry asking for details on their religious beliefs and whether they would like their children to follow ethics lessons, were they to be offered, in an effort by the government to better understand “present and future needs” for the subject.

This newspaper reported in March that students were being denied the opportunity to follow ethics education lessons, which are currently offered in two colleges after being introduced as a pilot project last year, because the government had not undertaken any proper demand assessment.

At least two primary schools officially wrote to the Education Department earlier this year requesting the possibility of offering ethics education to their students but were turned down on the basis of lack of demand.

Until now, this demand has been assessed solely on the basis of the number of students refusing to attend religion lessons.

All parents have the right to ask for their children to be exempt from religion lessons, but if no alternative subject is offered, these students are often forced to sit out the lessons alone. Several parents who spoke to the Times of Malta said they had opted to have their child follow religion lessons solely because it was the only educational option available.

The Maltese Association of Parents of State School Students, which has repeatedly raised the problem with the authorities, yesterday welcomed the government’s demand-assessment initiative.

“Any child whose parents feel they should follow ethics studies should be given this possibility, independent of the number of children who choose ethics in that school,” said Ruben Overend, a spokesman for the association. “Even if the demand shows one student in a particular class, they should be given the opportunity to be taught ethics instead of Catholic religious education.”

Mr Overend added that some parents had told the association that they would like their children to follow both ethics studies and religion, which is currently not allowed.

According to the official curriculum, the ethics course aims to educate students on making responsible decisions on issues of rights, justice, tolerance, respect and moral values.

A first batch of 42 teachers graduated from a specialised course in ethics last December, and more are currently being trained.