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Oct. 25, 2006
More police action in Germany
On Friday 20 October 2006 at around 7.30 a.m. the children of a home
educating family in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg were brought
under duress to school by police. This action is rarely undertaken in
this part of Germany.
The Romeikes, from Bissingen, have been
home educating their children since the start of the school year,
something which is legal in practically the whole of the EU. On this
morning they were confronted by police officials, who, in an incredibly
inconsiderate manner, forced their crying children into a police car
and drove them to the school. The police stated that they had been
instructed to continue this measure in the coming week. This is almost
the first time that homeschoolers in Baden Wuerttemberg have been dealt
with in this manner.
The previous Minister of Education for
Baden Wuerttemberg, Annette Schavan had expressly declared that it was
not necessary to carry out such acts of force against such families
because "...the children are generally not lacking in any other
respects." (Statement of the Ministery on 20.6.2002). The ministery's
press officer said at the time, "We do not use such forcible methods in
Badem-Wuerttemberg. It is not in the long-term interests of either the
children or the police."
The family involved emphasises that
their children are neither truant nor school deniers, which are the
cases for which such measures were intended. The Romeike family is
fulfilling their children's right to an education by educating them at
home, with the support of teachers from a distance learning academy,
which also supplies the necessary material.
The arguments of the
school authorities, that this form of education endangers the welfare
of the children, lacks any factual foundation, as well as contradicting
several international studies and the practical experiences of home
educators in most of the democratic world.
Tearing the
children from the bosom of their family by force certainly does not
contribute to their welfare. The result is more likely to be
traumatisation and the development of an aversion to instruments of
state authority.
The Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit
strongly empathises with the Romeike family, whom many of us know
personally to be an intact and conscience-driven family. We condemn the
degrading act carried out by the police as a blatant breach of the
personal rights of individual family members and call for the Mayor of
Bissingen, as well as the Office for Education of the District
Authorities of Esslingen, to end these sanctions, which were first
leglised in 1938 by the National Socialist State, and to guarantee the
right of free choice of education to the family.
The Netzwerk
Bildungsfreiheit is an association of different organisations,
initiatives and private individuals, which lobbies for the right of
individuals to free choice and free design of their education, whether
with the aid of publicly or privately initiated resources. We are
politically and religiously neutral and are working towards the
transformation of compulsory, forced education into freedom of
education, to allow children and their parents to choose their own form
of education in free self-determination.
Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit - Network for Freedom in Education
-The board of directors-
Joerg Grosseluemern
Am Hahnengraben 8
90592 Schwarzenbruck
Germany
Via AMN Blog
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Oct. 26, 2006 - Hello
Sincerely,
Edhλl σ Loriλn
Check out my latest posts: "We had chocolate" I also added a NEW site to my LINKS: Catholicism vs. Christianity
Daughter of JacqueDixon, and sister of SuperAngel, Tigerlily and Young Man in Training