mamallama
January 17th, 2007, 3:24 PM
Monday January 15, 2007
France: Ministry Withdraws HomeSchooling Prohibition After International Outcry
By Gudrun Schultz
PARIS, France, January 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A proposal to outlaw most home schooling in France was withdrawn after an international outcry against the measure was raised by home schooling associations and concerned individuals, according to the U.S.-based Home Schooling Legal Defense Association.
Sections of the bill Protection de L’Enfance (Protection of the Children) would have brought in radical restrictions on home schooling, HSLDA warned, limiting the practice to families who “showed that the health or handicap of their child makes it necessary for him or her to be taught at home.”
Families who would qualify under the restrictions would be required to undergo a home visit by a government official each year, WorldNetDaily reported Jan.13, and they would be forced to use the curriculum from the “National Center of Correspondent Teaching” or another approved source.
Philippe Bas, French Minister of the Family, spoke out against the amendments, saying parents’ freedom to educate their children themselves must be protected.
"As they are, I am not favorable to these amendments [numbers 127 and 128], I find them too restrictive. . . ,” Mr. Bas said. “We must allow parents who, for instance, have three young children, a mother who is willing to take care of them and if they have decided to teach them to read-write-count--if that is their choice of living--provided that we can verify that the educational job is well done, then that freedom must be preserved."
French education officials admitted that poor learning levels in primary school were a factor in the decision to educate at home, for the parents of some 20,000 home schooled students in the country, according to WND. Some 80,000 students enter secondary school unable to read, write or count, the officials pointed out.
In what the HSLDA called an “incredible turnaround of events,” the minister who sponsored the measure withdrew amendments that would have denied most parents the choice to home school their children.
Commenting on the withdrawal of the amendments, HSLDA senior counsel Christopher J. Klicka said, “The homeschoolers in France are thankful that their right to teach their own children will not be taken away. These amendments, if passed, would have
eliminated traditional homeschooling in France, only allowing home schooling if the family could prove that it was necessary for their children to be taught at home due to a handicap or health reason. This is no longer a concern since these amendments have been withdrawn.”
The organization had sent out an alert early in January, warning supporters that the “draconian” suggestion to effectively outlaw home schooling in the country had been proposed in the French parliament.
Asking American home schooling supporters to contact the French Embassy, the HSLDA reminded them of previous successes in lobbying for the protection of home school programs in Ireland, the Czech Republic and South Africa. While the organization originated as a support for home schooling in the United States, the group has expanded their focus to address home schooling concerns internationally.
Home schooling has come under serious attack in Germany recently, with police enforcing a formal ban on home education by seizing children and physically transporting them to school facilities. Some families under threat by enforcement officers have left the country for Austria, where policies on home schooling are less restrictive.
http://www.hslda.org/docs/link.asp?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Elifesite%2Enet%2Fl dn%2F2007%2Fjan%2F07011502%2Ehtml
France: Ministry Withdraws HomeSchooling Prohibition After International Outcry
By Gudrun Schultz
PARIS, France, January 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A proposal to outlaw most home schooling in France was withdrawn after an international outcry against the measure was raised by home schooling associations and concerned individuals, according to the U.S.-based Home Schooling Legal Defense Association.
Sections of the bill Protection de L’Enfance (Protection of the Children) would have brought in radical restrictions on home schooling, HSLDA warned, limiting the practice to families who “showed that the health or handicap of their child makes it necessary for him or her to be taught at home.”
Families who would qualify under the restrictions would be required to undergo a home visit by a government official each year, WorldNetDaily reported Jan.13, and they would be forced to use the curriculum from the “National Center of Correspondent Teaching” or another approved source.
Philippe Bas, French Minister of the Family, spoke out against the amendments, saying parents’ freedom to educate their children themselves must be protected.
"As they are, I am not favorable to these amendments [numbers 127 and 128], I find them too restrictive. . . ,” Mr. Bas said. “We must allow parents who, for instance, have three young children, a mother who is willing to take care of them and if they have decided to teach them to read-write-count--if that is their choice of living--provided that we can verify that the educational job is well done, then that freedom must be preserved."
French education officials admitted that poor learning levels in primary school were a factor in the decision to educate at home, for the parents of some 20,000 home schooled students in the country, according to WND. Some 80,000 students enter secondary school unable to read, write or count, the officials pointed out.
In what the HSLDA called an “incredible turnaround of events,” the minister who sponsored the measure withdrew amendments that would have denied most parents the choice to home school their children.
Commenting on the withdrawal of the amendments, HSLDA senior counsel Christopher J. Klicka said, “The homeschoolers in France are thankful that their right to teach their own children will not be taken away. These amendments, if passed, would have
eliminated traditional homeschooling in France, only allowing home schooling if the family could prove that it was necessary for their children to be taught at home due to a handicap or health reason. This is no longer a concern since these amendments have been withdrawn.”
The organization had sent out an alert early in January, warning supporters that the “draconian” suggestion to effectively outlaw home schooling in the country had been proposed in the French parliament.
Asking American home schooling supporters to contact the French Embassy, the HSLDA reminded them of previous successes in lobbying for the protection of home school programs in Ireland, the Czech Republic and South Africa. While the organization originated as a support for home schooling in the United States, the group has expanded their focus to address home schooling concerns internationally.
Home schooling has come under serious attack in Germany recently, with police enforcing a formal ban on home education by seizing children and physically transporting them to school facilities. Some families under threat by enforcement officers have left the country for Austria, where policies on home schooling are less restrictive.
http://www.hslda.org/docs/link.asp?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Elifesite%2Enet%2Fl dn%2F2007%2Fjan%2F07011502%2Ehtml