Help Swedish home educators survive!

The Swedish Government is about to try and pass a law that will make Home Education there ILLEGAL! (And we think we've got problems!). You can help by reading the screed below, going to the website and signing the petition and, I would suggest, writing to the Swedish Embassy here and also to their Minister for Education.

Petition site

Proposal for new School Law 2009

The 16th of June, 2009, the Swedish Government presented its proposal for a new Swedish School Law, that has been in the works for many years.

The position on homeschooling in the suggested law is a return to darkness. It is unbelievable. Homeschooling will NOT be permitted for those referring to philosophical or religious reasons according to the European convention on Human Rights!

The reason given is:

"…that the education in school should be comprehensive and objective and thereby designed so that all pupils can participate, regardless of what religious or philosophical reasons the pupil or his or her care-takers may have." (our emphasis)

Thus, the proposed law argues:

"…there is no need for the law to offer the possibility of homeschooling because of religious or philosophical reasons in the family. All together this means that this proposed change cannot be said to contradict Swedens international obligations [i. e. Human Rights Conventions]."

The quotes above are my translations from the proposed law on page 584. The proposed law can be downloaded in Swedish from the Swedish Government homepage - here.

The proposal is now out for review and Rohus will submit a very stern response to the government's proposal. The review closes on October 1st 2009. The re-working of the proposal will be finished in the spring of 2010. The final proposal will then be voted on by Parliament during the spring/summer of 2010 and will take effect in July of 2011. Due to the many changes, it will take about a year for all schools to adapt to it in that time. And home educators - many may emigrate, if the law ends up the way the proposal reads today.

The Swedish Government is making homeschooling illegal, thus showing off its worst totalitarian socialist roots. We need international support to show that Sweden, as a member of the international democratic community, cannot take such a position. As Sweden is often seen as the great social utopia of the world, it is important for Swedish homeschoolers to win this battle. Any and all help is appreciated immeasurably.

Sensible international comments about the new Swedish school law can be sent to: skollagen@education.ministry.se

Please sign our petition at the site mentioned above if you want to support us in our work to ensure that home education stays a legal alternative to school.

I remember reading an article in the Daily Mail a few years ago about how Sweden was the country that the then Blair government was trying to emulate. If the Swedish government manages to outlaw home education, then it will sound an alarm within the entire global home education community that governments in other countries can do the same.

Will Swedish home educators refuse to comply with the new legislation or will they peacefully pack their bags and emigrate to to more home education friendly nation? Is home education legal in Norway which isn't a member of the EU?

There's over 2000 signatures on the petition but whether the Swedish authorities will take serious notice of it is another matter.

Some time ago I remember meeting a Swedish fellow who said that he was opposed to both private schools and HE. I asked him what should be done to children who refuse to go to state schools. His reply was to send them to government run boarding schools.

Cavalry arrives for beleaguered homeschool family

A top human rights expert who also is accomplished in Swedish law has been assigned to help a homeschool family whose 7-year-old son was taken into custody by police and has been detained by social services agents in Sweden for almost a year.

WorldNetDaily, 2nd May 2010

The Johansson's son, Dominic, was apprehended last year by police on a jetliner as the family awaited departure on a planned move to India, Annie's home country. There were no charges against the family or allegations of criminal activity.

"At times referred to as a 'social utopia,' Sweden is completely antagonistic toward homeschoolers and, in reality, anyone who deviates from what the Swedish government defines as 'normal.' The government's quest for conformity produces troubling side effects: the criminalization of actions – such as a parent's decision regarding the best form of education for his child – that ought to be the hallmarks of a free, democratic society," HSLDA has reported.

"What you have here is a socialist country trying to create a cookie cutter kid," said Roger Kiska, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney based in Europe. "This kind of thing happens too often where social workers take a child and then just keep him."