Fribourg consequences of federal court ruling
A Federal Supreme Court ruling on an appeal by Thurgau parents means that the Fribourg municipalities are also solely responsible for the costs of school materials and the costs of cultural and sporting activities offered to pupils by the schools.
Following an appeal by parents against a provision of the Canton of Thurgau's Primary School Act, the Federal Supreme Court recently clarified how the free primary school education enshrined in Article 19 of the Federal Constitution is to be interpreted. It emphasized that all necessary resources that directly serve the purpose of education must be made available to pupils free of charge.
For the canton of Fribourg, this means that in future the municipalities will have to cover the entire cost of school materials as well as all costs for excursions, cultural visits, sports days, project weeks and school camps organized as part of school activities. Only the cost of meals may be charged to parents in future, and only up to a maximum of CHF 16 per day.
In addition to school camps, all of the pupils' cultural activities are also affected: Visits to museums, exhibitions, monuments, performances, plays, film screenings or concerts, creative design activities, as the associated costs (transportation, supervision, admission, materials required and so on) will in future have to be borne exclusively by the municipalities.
