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Members of the Joint Select Committee reviewing the Jamaica Teaching Council Bill on Thursday pushed back at a suggestion for illiterate parents to be able to educate their children at home.
The suggestion came from homeschooling parent Danielle McNish, who was among several homeschool parents to made submissions before the committee.
Miss McNish said she believed a parent who is illiterate but "genuinely wants the best for their child and is also committed to their own self development should be allowed to homeschool their child".
She pointed out that while homeschooling is focused on the children, parents also end up learning alongside them because they spend hours conducting research to build a curriculum.
But committee member Senator Natalie Campbell Rodriques said it would be careless of the government to allow parents who cannot read and write to educate their children at home.
Citing Section 44 of the Education Act, the senator highlighted a portion which speaks to "the provision of efficient instruction and training". This, she suggested, represents the law's position on the matter and if not honoured, the country would pay dearly in the future.
Homeschooling parent Rovena Murphy, who also appeared before the joint select committee, said illiterate parents can seek assistance from professionals or partner with other parents to teach their children.
"I have two too children and one would be going at the high school level. To be honest, I'm not going to be teaching at the high school level because I recognise my limit regarding that... and so, we’ll explore other avenues where we'll get tutors who are licensed and certified," she shared, adding that the lessons would still place at home.
But Senator Campbell Rodriques argued that there are some parents who do not have that self awareness and are "so caught up in their own selves and their own abilities that they do not recognise that they can barely read and should not be teaching their child".
She said it was the lawmakers' responsibility to protect children from situations like those.
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