Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Farris:
On September 12, 2006, the European Court of Human Rights affirmed the German government’s de facto ban on home education. While the Court agreed that homeschooling was an exercise of protected parental liberties, it determined that important societal concerns raised by the German courts overrode these liberties—even though the Court should have considered the failure of Germany to comply with the rule of law.

There is a second failure of human rights principles that is inherent in the German situation. Article 13 of the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights places each nation under a duty, and I quote:

[To] have respect for the liberty of parents... to choose for their children schools other than those established by the public authorities, which conform to [such] minimum educational standards as may be laid down or approved by the State and to ensure the religious and moral education of the children in conformity with their own convictions.

Moreover, article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides:

In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and [to] teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their religious and philosophical [requirements].

In light of these provisions, it’s clear that alternative forms of education are to be implemented in legislation as a matter of right, not administrative largess.

I’m Mike Farris.