A Norwegian school has polarised the public with its new drag programme, the first one of its kind in the Scandinavian nation, which is being billed as a ‘major step’ in the fight for ‘equal rights’.

At the Labour Movement’s folk high school in Ringsaker, a class of about 10 students will learn about acting on stage, dressing up and putting on the make-up, as well as developing a drag character and learn about the history of the drag phenomenon.

According to Jens Martin Hartvedt Arvesen (29), the man behind the novel programme and a drag artist himself, the idea is for the young people to play with gender roles, as well as “strike a blow for openness and tolerance”, national broadcaster NRK reported.

Arvesen admitted that he expected reactions to the new programme, envisaging that many will find it controversial. In this respect he was right, as the drag programme brought forth a plethora of reactions, some of them highly critical.

MP Silje Hjemdal of the national-conservative Progress Party called it “hair-raising” that such education programmes receive state support.

source sputniknews.com