In our country, children must attend school from the age of 5. If parents have religious objections and therefore keep their child at home, they must apply to their municipality for an exemption from the compulsory education law. The Public Prosecution Service indicates that it is very difficult to make a substantive assessment of these appeals.
Each municipality appears to interpret the rules on religious objections differently. In addition, after prosecutions, there have been various rulings by courts of appeal. This provides the Public Prosecution Service with insufficient legal certainty. Since April, the Public Prosecution Service has therefore ceased prosecuting these cases when it has to assess the religious objection substantively.
Understanding the decision
The State Secretary writes in a letter to Parliament that he understands the decision of the Public Prosecution Service but also believes a quick solution is needed. He is considering setting up homeschooling as a separate sector or removing the exemption for religious objections. The State Secretary wants to carefully explore both options legally, as they relate to Article 23 of the Constitution.
That more children and young people do not participate in education is a worrying development, writes the State Secretary. The consequence is that children do not learn well and cannot develop fully. It is therefore an important priority of the ministry to ensure children receive the education they are entitled to.
The two approaches of the State Secretary require extra funding that is currently not available and call for a principled choice. It is therefore up to the next cabinet to make this decision. There will also be a broader exploration of the future of the Compulsory Education Act and its relationship to criminal law, which the House of Representatives will be informed about before next summer.