Government has denied it has done a U-turn on its home school regulations - instead saying it has offered to relax its rules on student numbers until a new policy is eventually introduced.

Acting Chief Education Officer Donna Daniels said Government still wanted to ensure the safety of students being educated in home schools, but provided supervisors could prove their homes were safe, they would not be prosecuted for having larger numbers of students in the interim.

She responded to a story in The Royal Gazette on Monday claiming that Government had done a U-turn on its policy to take action against any home school with more than four students which continued to operate without a licence from September this year.

She said there had been no U-turn.

Mrs. Daniels said: “I am not sure why The Royal Gazette reported that the Ministry made a U-turn on home schooling policy.

“We have consistently said that we need to ensure the safety for students being educated in the home school setting.”

Last month, Education and Development Minister Paula Cox said Government wanted to enforce the law, which stipulated that any school with more than four students had to be licensed and had to abide by planning and health and safety law.

It led to an outcry from home school teachers, some of which had up to 15 students, who claimed they did not mind abiding by some regulations but were opposed to becoming licensed institutions.

A meeting was held later in June in which the Ministry agreed to allow home schools to operate as they were from this September, provided they took certain health and safety precautions and showed satisfactory proof of an existing insurance policy to cover the students.

It was on the understanding that the Education Ministry still wanted to introduce a policy in the future, when the issue of numbers would be revisited again. Mrs. Daniels said: “The Education Act 1996 defines a school as ‘an institution for providing preschool, primary school, middle school or senior school education for not fewer than five persons'.

“Home schools with five or more students are therefore required to comply with the requirements imposed by the Act on institutions providing education.”

She added: “The Minister required certain assurances from the home school operators that their premises were safe. Once these were provided, she would be minded to consider a relaxation of the numbers in the interim period until new regulations are introduced.

“This followed the Minister's statement on June 7 in which she made clear that she would not compromise on safety.”

She said once the Ministry had received the requested information for the start of the 2002 school year, the Ministry will not be seeking to initiate “any punitive action” against home school operators.

But she said the next step would be to work with the various parties to introduce regulations that would properly govern this area, but no guarantee could be given on numbers.

She added: “While we are hopeful about the ultimate outcome, we have been frank and forthright in advising the representative groups of the home school operators that there are no guarantees that the current ceiling of four students will be changed.”

But the home schools said they were delighted when the Minister agreed to the reprieve on numbers.

They said when they left the meeting with the Minister last month, their jaws were open with surprise at the change of heart.

Supervisor Peggy Baptise said: “It was a shocker.”