Home school teachers have welcomed plans by Government to introduce legislation to govern health and safety of the alternative schools.

They said last night that they had always been in favour of the Education Ministry putting new guidelines in place specifically for home schools, and said they were not surprised that the Progressive Labour Party was to make it one of its priorities this year.

Governor Sir John Vereker, in reading the Throne Speech on Friday, said: "Government has to balance parental rights with child rights, and Government responsibility.

"Clearly, parents have the right to educate their children in the way they see fit. Equally clearly, children have a right to equal access to educational opportunities, including qualified educators and a secure environment.

"Therefore, legislation will be introduced in this session to ensure that home school providers adhere to articulated regulations, which will enforce existing health, planning and fire standards, among other things."

Yesterday, The Royal Gazette was unable to reach Education Minister Paula Cox on the plans for the legislation and what, exactly, it would entail.

However, home school operators said the legislation was something Ms Cox had mentioned in a meeting with them in June.

Susan Roberts, who has a school for 11 students at her Southampton home, said: "When we spoke to Ms Cox in June, she said she was concerned about the health and safety of the children at home schools, and she said she firmly believed that home schools needed health and safety standards.

"This news of planned legislation does not surprise me. It seems right in line with what she said to us.

"At present, it is all a bit too vague for us to comment because there are no policies in place. However, so far, we have done the things that the Minister asked of us and we feel they have been reasonable.

"When we had a meeting with her in June over this whole thing, we came out feeling very encouraged. We felt we had finally been heard by the Minister."

The home schools took their concerns to the Press in May of this year after the Education Ministry said it wanted to make home schools abide by general planning and safety rules for schools, where they had more than four students.

It stated that all home schools with more than four students had to become registered and licensed teaching institutions, or face closure by last September.

But the home school teachers said they did not wish to become licensed institutions and said reducing the number of students in each home school would have a bad impact on the students' social surroundings, as well as make some schools no longer financially viable.

However, after a public outcry over the lack of consultation and thousands of names on a petition, the Minister finally met with home school teachers and reached a temporary compromise. She asked that all home schools be inspected by planning, health and fire officials, and that they apply to the Department of Planning to change the use of their homes to social use. And, they each had to be covered by liability insurance.

And the Minister said she was very interested in setting up some firm guidelines and policies to regulate home schools, which probably would include the number of students they are permitted to have.

Mrs. Roberts said: "It's always been our desire, since we were first approached in 2000, to see a task force put together to outline what the guidelines and parameters of home schooling should be.

"We were offered a part in that and would gratefully appreciate being a part of any future task force, but whether or not that will happen, we don't know."

Jerome Stovell, who operates a home school on King Street in Pembroke, said, he too, was not surprised by Government's plan to introduce legislation, and nor was he phased by it.

"We have been expecting this. I'm happy about it and I think it's reasonable. These areas of health and safety were things that we agreed upon with the Minister (in June), so they are nothing new.

"There were some unresolved issues, such as the number of students allowed at a home school, but they will probably be resolved over the coming year.

"We are all happy to adhere to basic guidelines on health and safety. We have already started that."

And he also said he believed it would be an advantage to have someone from the home schools on the task force.

"At the end of the last meeting, it was said that we would continue to talk, so we would continue to have a voice in the whole negotiating process," he said.

"I am sure everything will be resolved."