A demonstration in Lyon to defend home education on January 16, 2021. -

KONRAD K./SIPA

  • Article 21 of the “separatism” bill, which concerns home education, will pass first reading in the National Assembly on Thursday.

  • It aims to reduce the number of children educated at home, by providing more support for this type of education.

  • Some parents think they won't be able to home school soon.

A small text, but which is controversial.

Article 21 of the “separatism” bill, which governs home education, will be examined this Thursday in the Assembly.

And we already know that it will not pass like a letter in the post and will provoke lively debates in the Hemicycle, because it affects a restriction of freedom.

While until now, families who wanted to have recourse to home schooling had to make a simple declaration to the town hall and to the National Education, the bill lays down the principle of compulsory education for all children. aged 3 to 16 in a school.

As an exception, parents wishing to educate their children at home will have to request authorization by presenting a file to the rectorate.

"It is the best interests of the child that will be predominant"

This much more restrictive system aims to reduce the number of children educated at home.

Since it has jumped in recent years, from 19,000 children educated at home in 2010 to 62,000 in 2020. With this article 21, the executive also targets the school "separatism" of radical Islamists and sectarian excesses.

Arguments that do not hold according to 18 deputies, who demand the deletion of this article in a column published this Wednesday in Le

Monde

 : “No correlation could be established between family education and separatism!

», They say.

To take into account the criticisms formulated against the first version of the article, the text has evolved into a special committee in the Assembly.

“Four sets of grounds have been provided for allowing requests for authorization for home instruction;

the state of health of the child or his handicap, his geographical distance from a school or the homelessness of his family, his artistic practice or intensive sport and the particular needs of a child ”, explains the entourage of Jean-Michel Blanquer.

It is on the last point that the debates are still on.

What do we mean by a special student need?

"It is the best interests of the child that will be predominant", insists the Ministry of Education, before citing the case of children harassed at school or precocious children who cannot find their place. place at school.

On the other hand, "the religious motive will not be a criterion for requesting home education", insists the ministry.

This a priori control will not prevent "the a posteriori control", assures the Ministry of Education, because the ability of parents to properly educate their children will always be assessed.

The concerns of some parents are rising

Still, the text is still not unanimous.

The Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon, believes that “parents' freedom to teach is greatly reduced by this article”.

For the 18 deputies who signed the platform published in

Le Monde

, the fact that the families' request is submitted to the administration will pose a problem: "We can already foresee the red tape, disputes, anxieties and misunderstandings that will replace today's flexibility ”.

And they are not the only ones to criticize this text.

Because of the 2,657 amendments tabled on the “separatism” bill, 400 relate to article 21. Alix Fourest, spokesperson for the Free to Learn and Teach Otherwise Association, is still worried about the effects 'it could produce: "The impact study of the government plans to impose the schooling of nearly 30,000 children", she underlines.

“And administrative arbitrariness creates inequalities of treatment between families.

It is obvious that these differences will be found in this authorization system for family education, ”she continues.

Many parents who have chosen homeschooling are also very worried that they will never be able to do it again.

Such as Hortense Illouz, mother of three: “We started schooling as a family because we went on a trip through Europe the year our oldest was 3 years old.

We continued this mode of instruction upon our return, as we watched our children thrive and learn from the world around them.

And today, they are still learning with joy and are interested in a lot of subjects.

This choice allows us to adapt the learning to the closest to their desires and needs, ”she says, with the fear that all this will end soon.

Because "the text should be promulgated at the beginning of the summer", indicates the entourage of Jean-Michel Blanquer.

One thing is certain: families will have a little time to turn around: a transitional period of one year has been set and "the new measures will not apply before 2022", indicates the rue de Grenelle.

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  • National Assembly

  • Family

  • Separatists

  • Education

  • Society