Germany

Home Schooling Laws in Germany.

  Home schooling is officially illegal in Germany, with everyone including foreigners supposed to send their children to school.

Generally, all children of school age living in Germany must go to a duly-certified school or be educated at home by a qualified teacher certified under the German system, according to the law.

About 200 families home school their children in Germany, but parents have been fined and jailed, and many who decide to home school leave Germany and move to more tolerant countries as Canada, Switzerland or Denmark. These parents hope that a case currently before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will be decided in their favor.

Under European law, parents have the right to educate their children. Most European countries permit home education with different degrees of regulation by the State. Germany and Slovakia are the exceptions. If the Court makes the decision in the favor of home schoolers of these countries, they will be obliged to permit it for different reasons.

Estimated number of home schoolers in Germany is 400 families. Germany's home school movement is very small. Most of them are Christians who believe that God has called them to home school their children.

Now German home schoolers can pool their resources to finance legal defense for families as well as continuing negotiations with authorities to change the laws and make home schooling legal.