The passing of the Education Act in Parliament earlier this year created the legal framework for homeschooling to become a mainstream education method.
Since that time the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has implemented guidelines to govern homeschooling. Deputy Director of Education for Planning, Research and Development Sharmaine Sinclair recently spoke with ZNS News about the impact of homeschooling on the education system.
She said, “it requires additional resources in terms of human resources. We now have a homeschooling unit that will pay attention specifically to homeschooling, monitoring, but also to give support to parents. It will allow parents, now, to be able to have, as I said, all of these different options and they are able to now navigate. There are parents who may be more mobile than others. So when it comes to the education of their children, let’s say, I work on a boat, but my child is a student in The Bahamas. If I’m registered as homeschooling and able to give the hours to that child.”
Persons considering homeschooling must register with the ministry and be at least 21 years of age. Sinclair said, “homeschooling is you are the person responsible. It doesn’t mean that you cannot have someone else come into your home and offer a subject like music, or teach a child art or something that you may not have the expertise for but you are mainly responsible. You also have to register with our homeschool unit, that is a must. And that registration takes place and then each year you renew. You say what your plans are and you submit that plan.”
