This petition calls for the preservation and strengthening of the legal basis for home education (Thuisonderwijs). The State Secretary for Education is planning to make it impossible to home educate (via exemption from compulsory school attendance under article 5 sub b of the Compulsory Education Act). This is evident from his letter in July 2013 to the Second Chamber (House of Representatives) of the Dutch Parliament.

We establish that:

- in many countries, home education is legally recognised as a suitable form of education, which can replace school;

- a small group of parents currently home educate in The Netherlands;

- the effectiveness of which has been well established through research, e.g. healthy cognitive and social-emotional development, a good fit for both further education and the labour market;

- the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament in 2011 agreed with home education and its supervision;

- the Dutch Education Council (Onderwijsraad) advised the government to regulate home education, not to ban it;

- the State Secretary for Education nevertheless intends to ban home education.

And request to preserve and strengthen the legal basis for home education in The Netherlands by:

a) maintaining the right to exemption from compulsory schooling (Article 5 sub b of the Compulsory Education Act),

or:

b) disassociating the option to home educate from philosophical objections and making home education a legal right within the Compulsory Education Act, in accordance with the constitutional freedom of education, which guarantees the civil right to educate (at home or elsewhere) along with appropriate supervision.

For more information on home education in The Netherlands:

www.home-education.nl

www.thuisonderwijs.nl/english