Iceland’s primary school system is rapidly deteriorating. A third of Iceland’s young men are illiterate after ten years of study, and one in ten fourteen year old girls worries about being bullied in school. Iceland has some of the world’s most medicated children, and recent government efforts have only exacerbated the situation.

It may be wrong to place the whole blame on the education system, but parents in Iceland simply don’t have any alternatives. Government approved education is mandatory. There are only a handful of alternative schools, and even these are forced to follow the state curriculum.

Basic economic principles teach us that a lack of competition leads to a lack of competence. Therefore, it is not surprising to see a monopolized school system like Iceland’s deteriorating at a rapid pace.

Homeschooling outperforms government education. It could be good way for many families to reverse the negative education trend in Iceland. Moreover, it is the natural right of parents to supervise the education of their own children.

Parents in Iceland largely accept the current situation because they do not know better. They have been conditioned to believe that the government holds full responsibility for the education of their children.  In the 18th century, parents in Iceland were legally required to teach their children to read, write, and study the Bible. At this time, literacy was very high. In the late 19th century, primary schools were formed in a few towns and a mandate to teach arithmetic was added to the curriculum. In 1908, Iceland began requiring children to attend government schools between 10 and 14 years of age. Throughout the 20th century, the public school system continued expanding to its current size.

Between 1995 and 2009, homeschooling was allowed only in a few cases as an exception from the system. In 2009, a regulation on homeschooling was introduced which requires that at least one parent hold a teaching license. Parents are also forced to follow a state sanctioned curriculum.

But many parents in Iceland are still fighting for their freedom of education!

This situation presents a unique opportunity for concerned citizens around the world to make a strong case for freedom of education and homeschooling.

When you sign this petition, your signature will be sent directly to Iceland’s President President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson and Iceland’s Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.

By signing this petition, you can show your support for the efforts to change education regulations in Iceland. Furthermore, the case may eventually reach the European Court of Human Rights. If the Court agrees that restricting freedom of education to certified teachers goes against one of the main principles of any western constitution--equal rights before the law--the case for allowing homeschooling in other countries would be strengthened.