Switzerland’s highest court has ruled that parents do not have a constitutional right to provide school-aged children with private lessons at home. The verdict came after a mother in canton Basel City appealed the Federal Court, after her application to provide homeschooling for her son was rejected by the local school and cantonal justice authorities.
The court also ruled that the cantons – who are in charge of educational matters in Switzerland – could decide whether, and to what extent, homeschooling should be authorised, restricted or banned.
Figures vary but according to a recent Tages-Anzeiger newspaper reportexternal link, there are over 2,000 homeschooled children in Switzerland. And the trend is rising, experts say.
Willi Villiger, president of the Homeschool Association of Switzerland, said he was disappointed by the ruling, He had hoped that attitudes were slowly changing in Switzerland.
Villiger, himself a teacher, taught all his ten children at home with his wife. “Homeschooling allows a family to become a team, to be out and about with the children and learn, and to get on in life together,” he told SRF.
