Guetersloh, Germany, Apr 28, 2005 / 12:00 am (CNA).- A German mom has been sent to jail for six days and fined $115 US because she and her husband insist on home schooling their children, reports ASSIST News Service.

Home schooling is illegal in Germany. Parents are obliged to send their children to state-registered schools. Parents may not educate their children at home, even for reasons of faith or conscience. Despite this, about 500 German children are home schooled.

The jailed mom and her husband belong to a Baptist church. They regard religious instruction at school as too liberal and object to the sex-education program.

Since October, seven other parents in Paderborn County have refused to send their children to public school for religious and ethical reasons. They have been fined $190 US each. The authorities have even threatened the parents, saying they could be taken to court or lose custody of their children if they do not comply with the law.

A Bavarian court in Bayreuth recently fined another two Christian parents $8,500 US and ordered that their eight-year-old daughter must attend a state-registered school. The parents are considering appealing the decision.

Home schooling lobbyists are challenging what they consider to be an infringement of parental rights. They are deliberating whether to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

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