Homeschooling in South Africa

1868-1900

Dr Andrew Murray was the only minister in the Nederduitsch Gereformeerde (NG) church in the Free State and Transvaal, and he was based in Bloemfontein. He was tasked to travel through both republics baptizing people, giving catechism and performing marriage ceremonies. Dr. Murray was surprised that he very seldom found young people that were illiterate, in reading, writing and arithmetic and this despite the fact that there were no schools in the area traveled. Nomad farmers bordering the north east of the Cape Colony in the eighteen hundreds had no schools, teachers or religious ministers, and yet literacy was a universal occurrence.^[1]

1900-1991

Government schools increased in implementation and the freedom of home schooling was increasingly limited. By the 1990s only a few families were allowed to homeschool under severe restrictions, if they could have their children exempted from compulsory school attendance. That was only granted up to Grade 3, if the family lived more than 80 km from the nearest school and if the child(ren) were taught by a teacher qualified to teach the junior primary phase.^[2]

1992

The Association for Homeschooling is established. ^[3]

1993 (Homeschoolers jailed)

On 14 December 1993 Andre and Bokkie Meintjies were sentenced to prison because their children did not attend formal school. In a court case that lasted for almost five years, Andre was sentenced to two years and Bokkie one year in separate jails in Johannesburg, and this while their three children were placed in an orphanage in the Eastern Cape to prevent contact between the parents and children. Several other parents were given suspended sentences on condition they put their children in schools. All of those parents still have criminal records.^[4]

1994

A group action was launched by the Association for Homeschooling and the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) from the USA that led to release of both Bokkie and Andre. The Meintjies couple were however released six months later under a blanket amnesty for prisoners with the implementation of the new constitution.^[5]

1995

Concept legislation was published to the effect that home schooling was to be illegal in South Africa. This led to a campaign being launched by home school leaders like Leendert van Oostrum, Graham Shortridge and Kate Durham with the HSLDA^[6]. Thousands of home schoolers in the USA wrote letters to the South African embassy in the USA in support of this campaign. In that time, SA was still expecting to receive large grants from America, and American public opinion was taken seriously.^[7]

1996 (SA Schools Act acknowledges home education)

In November of this year the SA Schools Act was promulgated wherein home schooling was recognized. In December of the same year, the new constitution of South Africa was accepted, in which the legal status of home schooling was entrenched more securely. The act requires that every home learner be registered with the relevant provincial education department – unless there is good reason not to.^[8]

1998

The Pestalozzi Trust is established in accordance with a brief from the general meeting of the Association for Homeschooling to serve as a legal fund to ensure the continued freedom and to promote such freedom.^[9]

1999

Mr. Kader Asmal publishes the national policy concerning the registration of home schoolers, wherein the input from both the home schooling contingent and the provincial education departments is totally ignored. The Pestalozzi Trust advises home schoolers that the policy is in direct conflict with the SA Schools Act, and therefore not enforceable.^[10]

2001

• Feb : In February 2001 the police accompanied by the media arrived at the home of Doddie Kleyhans to arrest her. Within three minutes The Pestalozzi Trust had an attorney on the line to the senior police officer on the scene. The attorney made it clear to the policeman that the whole issue was not arrest worthy, and that it was completely sufficient to warn her that a case was being investigated against her. This they did. And Beeld newspaper carried a front-page article about the issue. The posters against lampposts led with “Government vs Mother”. Due to great pressure from the office of the minister of education, the case was never closed but also never prosecuted. Till her death the cloud of prosecution hung over Doddie.^[11]
• Oct : The Constitutional Court rules that the case of Harris that policies such as the registration of home schoolers may not be enforced on them.^[12]

2002(Revised National Curriculum)

The Pestalozzi Trust organizes a campaign against the acceptance of the Revised National Curriculum, which would be compulsory for government- private schools as well as home schooling. In this curriculum children would be compelled to approve inter faith religion. At the end of the campaign a protest is held in Cape Town and on Church Square in Pretoria. Leendert van Oostrum of the Pestalozzi Trust was requested to do a presentation to the parliamentary portfolio committee on education.^[13]

2004

The Gauteng department of education arranges a series of meetings to try and intimidate parents to register and to demand compliance to a range of irregular demands. Representatives of the Pestalozzi Trust and the Association for Homeschooling attended all the meetings. The officials only wanted to discuss the registration process, and interactive discussion with homeschooling parents was strongly discouraged.^[14]

2005

In 2005 the Department of Basic Education (DBE) advertised for tenders for research on home education in South Africa. The budget was small and the terms of reference very restrictive. A tender by Wits Education Policy Unit was accepted, and they submitted their report in 2008. Given the restrictions on the researchers, the report was successful in describing the homeschooling community as it then was, and its recommendations were mostly reasonable.^[15]

2007

In opposition of the prosecution of home schoolers in Germany, the Association for Homeschooling holds a protest at the Deutsche Schule in Pretoria to bring this to the attention of the German community.^[16]

2008 (New regulations for NSC)

New regulations on the administration of matric were promulgated. These regulations require that learners must complete Gr. 10 and Gr. 11 in order to be admitted to write the Gr. 12 exam. Whereas it was possible for homelearners to obtain a matric in less than a year at a cost of about R1000, it will now take 3 years at a cost of about R30 000. Due to this increase in duration and cost of the National Senior Certificate, international matric qualifications such as Cambridge (UK) and General Educational Development (USA) became increasingly popular under homeschoolers.^[17]

2010

The Association for Homeschooling launches an initiative for an independent website on home education. The website SAHomeschoolers.Org has since grown to the most comprehensive independent website concerning home schooling in South Africa. Home Schooling Expos become more commonplace. Since this year there are annual expos in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and George.^[18]

• Aug : The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) publishes a notice in local papers in which they state that parents must register before 30 Sep in the year before they start with home education and that home education must be in line with the National Curriculum Statement. As a reaction the Association for Homeschooling and the Pestalozzi Trust wrote a letter to the WCED. A deputation of the Association, the Pestalozzi Trust and Cape Home Educators had a meeting with officials of the WCED to explain the issues caused by the notice.^[19]

2011 (Home education in census)

• Mar : In a court case between the BCVO and the Minister of Education^[20], Judge Cynthia Pretorius makes a remark that the national curriculum is not binding on independent schools and parents that home school their children.^[21]
• Oct : In the Census of 2011 there is a question about home education (Question P-18) for the first time. In the question about which type of education institution is attended, there was an option to select home education. According to the results, 56 857 learners receive home education in South Africa.^[22]

2012 (Home education discussed in parliament)

• 7 Aug : In a Portfolio Committee meeting on Basic Education on 7 August 2012 the Department of Education stated that “the Department is currently developing policy in respect of home schooling”
• 8 Aug : The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) publishes the same notice of 2010 in local papers again. The Association for Homeschooling wrote a response to this notice, which was published in a number of local paper.^[23]
• 6 Sep : In response to the above question, Ms Cherylynn Dudley (ACDP) asked the Minister of Basic Education when this policy will be available and what the content will be.
• 11 Sep : The minister responded that the policy will available April/May 2013, because they have to go through an extensive consultation process.

2013

According to the results of the 2012 census, there are approximately 57000 home schooling students in South Africa. If all these learners were to be accommodated in schools, 130 schools would be required as well as 2000 teachers. Currently the government is saving approximately R700 million per year because the government is not paying for the education of these children.

• 7 May : The Association for Homeschooling requested Ms Cherylynn Dudley (ACDP) to ask the minister who the Department of Education has contacted during their "extensive consultation process".
• 12 Aug : Ms Cherylynn Dudley (ACDP) asked the minister who the Department of Education has contacted during their "extensive consultation process".
• 2 Sep : The minister responds and states that no homeschooling organisations have been consulted, but that she is open to work with homeschooling organisations.^[24]

2014(Western Cape issues draft policy)

At the start of the year Pestalozzi Trust publishes an article "Homeschooling running into heavy weather".^[25]

• 7 Feb : Referring to the minister's statement that she is open to work with homeschooling organisation, Cape Home Educators sends a letter to the Minister of Education putting it on record that they represent homeschooling families in the Western Cape. A copy is sent to the Western Cape Department of Education.
• 11 Feb : In response to the above letter, the WCED sends a copy of the draft policy on home education stating to Cape Home Educators : The Provincial Minister of Education in the Western Cape is in the process of finalising the Policy on Education at Home for this province" ^[26] " This policy is widely distributed to homeschoolers.
• 12 Feb : Many homeschooling parents write letters to and phone the Democratic Alliance (DA) councilor in their area, because the Western Cape is ruled by the DA.
• 12 Feb : Leendert van Oostrum publishes a Fact Sheet^[27] on the Draft policy on Home Education of the Western Cape Education Department.
• 13 Feb : The Western Cape Minister of Education, min. Donald Grant responds to an enquiry from a councilor as follows:^[28] "As you are now aware the WCED has circulated draft regulations for comment. There are sound reasons for regulation given the new CAPS and SBA requirements. The draft is simply out for comment and that is what the WCED requires - comment. Please request those who are up in arms to communicate their objections as requested to the WCED. The WCED in turn will collate all the objections and provide feedback to the Ministry."
• 13 Feb : In response to the message from min. Donald Grant, the Pestalozzi Trust writes a letter to the minister^[29] to justify why homeschooling parents are "up in arms" about the proposed policy by the WCED.
• 14 Feb : Clive Roos from the WCED issues the following statement : "The document currently in circulation on Home Schooling has no formal status. It has not been seen by the Minister, the Head of Education or any formal structure within the WCED. The document has been withdrawn with immediate effect by the Head of Education and the WCED apologises unreservedly for any concerns which its appearance has caused."
• 4 Mar : The Western Cape Education Department publishes the same notice on Home Education in the press. In 2010 and 2012 the notice was only published in local newspapers, but this time it was also published in large papers such as Die Burger.^[30]
• Apr : A national home education magazine “Learning @ Home” was launched this month. The newsletter of the Cape Home Educators (CHE) was expanded to become national magazine. It is published quarterly and distributed in electronic format for free.^[31]
• 11 Aug : The Pestalozzi Trust receives a reply to a letter that the Pestalozzi Trust wrote on 6 September 2010 from Donald Grant, the DA minister of education in the Western Cape. The reply was dated 27 October 2012, but the Pestalozzi Trust only received this letter on 11 August 2014.^[32] Since homeschooling parents view education as a responsibility of parents, the closing paragraph was particularly alarming. It reads : The provision of education is a state function, and where the state has granted permission in terms of due process as prescribed, it must support and monitor the provision of private education and home education.
• 9,10 October : Homeschool Associations from all over South Africa and the Pestalozzi Trust met with Department of Basic Education (DBE) on 9,10 October to discuss new policy on Home Education. Homeschool representatives experienced the meeting positively, because they received ample time to present their case. DBE experienced the presentations by the representatives as well researched and providing valuable insights.^[33]

2015 (KZN court case)

After the meetings in October, it was the intention to have follow-up meetings in January 2015. As the date of the follow-up meeting approached, the meeting was postponed to February 2015, in order to provide more time to the DBE to prepare for the meeting. Two weeks before this meeting, representatives requested that the agenda and working documents be sent to them as a matter of common courtesy. Soon after this representatives were informed that the meeting was postponed indefinitely.

Middle June, representatives received another invite for a meeting on the 2nd and 3 July, with a proposed agenda and an updated Discussion Document by dr. Trevor Coombe. The representatives were surprised by the updated discussion document. This document confirmed that the DBE was indeed willing to attempt to understand home education, because a number of significant paradigms shifts have been made since the previous Discussion Document that was presented in October 2014. In the preparation for the meeting, the agenda was changed a few times. The Association for Homeschooling managed to reserve more than 90 minutes of the agenda for a screening of the “Class Dismissed” movie.

• April : The Doe family (name changed) in KwaZulu-Natal was ripped apart. The Children’s court ordered that the three young children be removed and placed in the care of their grandparents, where they are compelled to attend school.^[34] The only reason for removing the children provided by the court and the social workers is that the children don't attend school. This case is similar to the case of Domenic Johansonn in Sweden ^[35]
• 2,3 July : The second meeting between representatives from homeschool associations and the Department of Basic Education took place. The homeschool representatives were encouraged by the paradigm shifts that were made by DBE.^[36]
• October - Dec : The working group was scheduled to meet every month from October to March. Three homeschooling individuals were invited to join these meeting. The first meeting was attended by Leendert van Oostrum and Joy Leavesley. Bouwe van der Eems, the third invitee, was unable to travel from Cape Town at short notice. From the start of the first working group meeting, it was made abundantly clear that a different dynamic was at work. During his opening remarks, for example, the chairman (the same Dr Simelane) claimed that “children belong to the state”. He proceeded to make it clear that those present were not there to represent their own stakeholder groups – they represented no-one except the Department of Basic Education. Very soon, it became obvious that the policy to be written would not represent anything that was presented by homeschool organisations during the consultation sessions. Instead, the discussions were aimed at implementing the original objective of the education minister – to bring home education in conformance with “the formal education system”. It became apparent to the two homeschoolers present that they were there only so that their names could be listed in the final policy proposal as “members of the working group”, giving the impression that homeschoolers were in support of the final proposals. During the second day, Leendert and Joy withdrew as members of the working group, but stated that they remained willing as resources to assist when needed. Only one of the three homeschoolers who had been invited on the working groups had not withdrawn – Bouwe van der Eems from Cape Town, who did not attend the first work group meeting. He was also unable to travel to Pretoria for the second meeting in November. Karin van Oostrum, another trustee of the Pestalozzi Trust, represented Bouwe at the November meeting. Karin’s impressions of the second meeting were the same as those of the two who had withdrawn during the first meeting. Before the third meeting Karin also withdrew.
• Sep - Dec : In April the children of the Doe (real name withheld) family of KwaZulu-Natal have been removed from their parents by social workers for “not attending school”. The only reasons given to the court were that the children were not attending schools and that their parents were allegedly "indoctrinating" the children with their religious beliefs. After this, the Pestalozzi Trust became involved. In December the their three eldest children (of whom the youngest is only three years old) were permanently returned to the care of their parents by the children's court, and set aside all the previous court orders. The court also refused to accept the recommendations of the social worker and other "interested parties" that the court orders the social worker to supervise the family's homeschooling for a year. He commented that there is nothing wrong when parents bring up their children in their own beliefs, and that such an upbringing makes the children better people. He also made it very clear that, in his view, these children should never have been before the court in the first place - the matter should have been dealt with by other means.

2016

• In March 2016 the Global Home Education Conference (GHEC) 2016 took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Pestalozzi Trust Board of Trustees sent three of the trustees to the conference in Brazil, namely Leendert van Oostrum, Karin van Oostrum and Bouwe van der Eems.
• In October 2016 the Pestalozzi Trust announced that its founder and chairman, Leendert van Oostrum passed away. Click here for an overview of his life. This was a great loss for the Pestalozzi trust. However, since the Pestalozzi Trust is essential for the continued existence of home education in South Africa, the trustees were determined to ensure that the trust continues to operate and grow its influence. After the passing away of Leendert van Oostrum, the previous Chairman and Manager of the Pestalozzi Trust, the Trustees resolved that the following three Trustees will fill the void left by Leendert’s demise. Mr Bouwe van der Eems was appointed as Chairman. Mrs Karin van Oostrum was appointed as Manager and Advocate André Williams supports the Executive as a legal consultant.

2017 (BELA Bill and draft policy on home education)

• 13 Oct: The DBE invited public comment on the draft Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA Bill)^[37] gazetted in Government Gazette no. 41178 and released via www.gpwonline.co.za. The Pestalozzi Trust, other associations of home educators and individual home educators only became aware of this in the course of the week-end of the 14th and 15th of October. If a vigilant home educator did not notice this in a press article and alert organisations of home educators, the deadline for comment could easily have passed by without any comment or input from the home education community. The closing date for submissions was 10 November. The most important changes that the bill introduces are the following:
  1. The content and skills of the curriculum to be used by home learners must be at least comparable to the national curriculum.
  2. Home learners must be assessed annually by registered assessors.
  3. Home learners are not allowed to enrol for alternative matric qualifications such as Cambridge and GED.
  4. The penalty for not registering for home education is increased from 6 months to 6 years.
• 18 Oct : The Pestalozzi Trust and associations and individual parents requested that the closing date is extended. Reasons for an extension include: home educators have been procedurally prejudiced by lack of prior notice; the prescribed comment period (October–November) is a period of preparation for and taking of exams for home educating families; the need for detailed consultation with members before responding; the impacts of the proposed changes are not merely technical, but may have multiple complex substantive financial, curricular, time, and legal impacts on home educating families and their supporting and representative organisations; the changes do not merely edit elements of the previous law but include entirely new provisions; many consequences thereof that may be unintended by the authors of the proposal bill and if not remedied may lead to unnecessary litigation which is neither in the interests of the Department of Basic Education, home educators nor any other party; homeschool organisations will need to take legal counsel on constitutional and other issues after consulting our members.
• 10 Nov : The Pestalozzi Trust and all the homeschool associations submitted their comments on the BELA Bell to the Department of Basic Education (DBE). Parents were also encouraged to send their comments in their own words. A total of about 1000 letters from homeschoolers were sent to the DBE. Some of these letters were sent as anonymous submissions to the Pestalozzi Trust. The main objections to the BELA Bill were the following:
  1. The provision that home learners must register with the state is unreasonable and negatively affects the interests of children. It is untenable that parents, who are primarily responsible for the education of their children, require permission from the state to choose home education.
  2. The requirement that the proposed home education programme must cover contents and skills comparable to the national curriculum prohibits parents from choosing a curriculum or educational approach that would be in the best interests of the child, and which would not necessarily cover comparable skills and contents.
  3. The requirement for annual assessments by external assessors serves no educational purpose, covertly enforces the National Curriculum and will be costly to homeschooling parents and the taxpayer.
  4. The provision to outlaw alternative matric qualifications such as Cambridge and GED would give rise to the creation of a class of persons so disadvantaged that this would be in violation of the fundamental principle of equality which underlies the provisions of the Constitution. Secondly, the requirement that any person wishing to gain the National Senior Certificate should have to follow a three-year programme in order to do so significantly limits the rights of such a person to education.
  5. The provision to outlaw alternative curriculums and matric qualification would give an unfair financial advantage to CAPS compliant curriculum providers.

To ensure that statements on the negative consequences of the proposed bill can be proven empirically, homeschooling parents were requested to complete a survey. A total of 2750 parents completed the survey.

• 17 Nov. : The Department of Basic Education released a draft policy on home education with 21 days to provide comments.^[38]
• 22 Nov. : The Pestalozzi Trust sent a letter to the Department of Basic Education requesting and extension of the closing date for comments to the draft policy on home education. The reasons are similar to the reasons given to request and extension of the BELA Bill.
• 28 Nov : Parliament’s oversight education committee has taken the exceptional step of calling a hearing – before the legislation is even tabled. In their presentation, DBE Director General Mathanzima Mweli said ‘the word avalanche would not describe’ the submissions they had received ‘and that he had never seen it in his career in public service’. Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister of Basic Education Ian Ollis said “the reason you are getting such an avalanche is because you are tampering with the democratic rights of parents with this bill“. Ollis objected to the Director General saying they would be “processing inputs” without saying “they would be considering amendments”. He objected to the Director General’s proposal to hold hearings in which to ‘educate the public about the bill’, which wrongly assumed they were uninformed and needed education until they agreed. He said they “needed to listen to the public“. The public participation process was also criticized by the ACDP and even ANC members of parliament. The meeting was extraordinary in a number of respects: First, a bill is normally only discussed in parliament after it is finalised and referred by cabinet. Second, the DBE sent their top officials to the meeting instead of a cabinet meeting discussing on education held at the same time. Third, they deferred to next year another scheduled parliamentary education briefing because after all the questions from parliamentarians, there was no time left for further discussion. Fourth, normally restrained ruling party parliamentarians showed strong independence, asking tough questions and making strong comments. Fifth, because a parliamentary committee requested the education department to extend the time for comment and received agreement. Sixth, strong feelings led the chair to calm the meeting. Seventh, a concerned mom brought her few month old baby, likely the youngest attendee of a parliamentary briefing, much to the delight of female parliamentarians. At the end of the session, Deputy Minister of Basic Education Enver Surty, granted an extension of time for public comment on the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA) till 10 January 2018.

Homeschoolers at briefing on BELA Bill

• 5 Dec : The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) measured literacy levels between 2011 & 2016 and has found 78% of the Gr. 4 pupils who took part are functionally illiterate and South Africa scored the lowest out of 50 countries globally.
• 8 Dec : The Pestalozzi Trust and all the homeschool associations submitted their comments on the Draft Policy on Home Education to the Department of education. Parents were also encouraged to send their comments in their own words. A total of about 750 letters were sent to the Department of Basic Education, including letters requesting an extension of the closing as well as comments on the policy. Some of these letters were sent as anonymous submissions to the Pestalozzi Trust. The main objections to the policy are as follows^[39]:
  1. A flawed consultation process means that there has not been the required meaningful consultation, and because home educators have not had sufficient input into the policy provisions, the Draft policy itself betrays a number of flaws.
  2. In general terms, the Draft Policy is flawed: while it asserts a very powerful set of constitutional and home education principles, it fails to translate those into a workable policy. In fact, it could be said that the practical provisions of the Draft Policy are diametrically opposed to the principles on which the Draft Policy is based.
  3. To further compound this problem, the Draft Policy is based on both the South African Schools Act (No. 84 of 1996) and the BELA Bill. It is highly problematic that a draft policy is being based on the provisions of a proposed bill that is still subject to the public comment process and parliamentary review.
  4. Underlying the above is the fact that the Draft Policy conflates home education and public education. These underlying flaws have led to a policy that is unworkable in practice, and will merely contribute to increased non-compliance by parents, and increased conflict between parents and education officials.
  5. The Draft Policy does not treat parents and children with dignity, as required by the founding provisions of the South African constitution.
• 11 Dec : Ms Phindile Ngcobo from the Department of Basic Education informed the Pestalozzi Trust that the Minister has granted extension till the 31st of January, 2018 for comments to the draft policy on home education.
• 14 Dec : The Pestalozzi Trust delivers 430 anonymous comments to the BELA Bill at the offices of the Department of Basic Education.