Representatives of the South African home education community will be attending the GHEC 2018 from 15 to 19 May, 2018, in Russia.
While education authorities from South Africa are attempting to impose more restrictions on home educating families, the home schooling movement is experiencing an enormous growth worldwide. Mike Donnelly, Director of Global Outreach, HSLDA, estimates that 0.4% of the total school age population globally (about 4% in the United States) are being home-schooled.
GHEC 2018 15-19 May, 2018
From 15 to 19 May, 2018 homeschoolers from around the world will meet first in St Petersburg and then in Moscow for the Global Home Education Conference 2018. Organization leaders, policy makers, government officials, elected representatives, parents, students, and researchers will be attending the conference. Russian homeschooling families of all philosophies and faiths will also be included. This is the third Global Home Education Conference, and the theme of the conference is “You CAN homeschool!” The first GHEC was held in Berlin in 2012, and the second one in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. For those who missed the first two conferences, conference materials are still available on their websites for both conferences. Proceedings of the GHEC 2018 will be available after the conference.
Influence public policy
“One of our goals has been to influence public policy by promoting an understanding of the value of home education and the necessity for it to be acknowledged as a human right. The GHEC has provided a much-needed forum to cultivate awareness about home education, its legal framework, social and academic research, and practical experience around the world. We have drafted international declarations including the 2012 (Berlin Declaration) and 2016 (Rio Principles) statements which have been used by advocates all over to impact policy in many countries,” says Donnelly in the HSLDA article “As Homeschooling Grows Globally, Challenges Grow with it”.
International mission led by Gerald Huebner
Gerald Huebner, homeschooling leader from Canada, and chairman of the organising committee of the GHEC 2018, and his team left Canada on the 1st of May, 2018 on an international mission to Ukraine, Belarus and Russia as a prelude to the GHEC 2018. They will join the GHEC 2018 in St Petersburg and Moscow, before returning home. To join his team of prayer warriors, please send an e-mail to prayforghec@gmail.com.
South Africa at the GHEC 2018
South Africa will also be represented at the GHEC 2018. We are counting the days and looking forward to this very exciting opportunity for networking. God willing, Bouwe van der Eems and Karin van Oostrum from the Pestalozzi Trust will be attending the conference, as well as Shirley Erwee and Megan Puchert. Megan completed two law degrees in South Africa, namely the B Juris and LLB degrees. She is currently in the process of completing the Masters’ degree in Law with specialization in Family Law. She is an ex-State Prosecutor who specialized in child abuse matters and is an admitted Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. Megan has been a home educating mother during the last 14 years and has been involved in leadership positions within the home education community. She submitted a research paper to the research track, which was awarded the second prize, and for which she received a grant from the GHEC board.
Symposium on Parental Rights and Education, Moscow City University
Adv Puchert and representatives of the Pestalozzi Trust will also participate in a symposium on Parental Rights and Education, at the Moscow City University, on Thursday 17th May. It has been organised as a special outreach to the Russian educational leadership community.
