 |
Solo
yachtswoman Laura Dekker has taken down the Dutch flag from her sailing boat
and replaced it with a New Zealand one, in response to renewed efforts from
Dutch school attendance authorities to force her to continue with her
education.
Authorities
claim 16-year-old Laura has been doing too little school work. When her father
refused to make an appointment to discuss the issue, attendance officers
announced they intended to complain to the Dutch council for child welfare.
Laura – who
aims to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world single-handed -
is currently crossing the Atlantic Ocean, headed for the Dutch Caribbean island
of Sint Maarten where she will complete her journey in her boat, Guppy. It is
expected that she will arrive within two weeks provided there are no setbacks.
Battle to
sail with authorities
In 2009,
when Laura first announced her plans to circumnavigate the globe, Dutch
authorities intervened and insisted she should first finish school. The child
welfare authorities brought the case to court and a judge ruled that the
13-year-old was too young to travel alone. Laura then ran away and took a plane
to St Maarten, where she was arrested and sent back to the Netherlands.
In July
2010, a judge gave her permission to carry out her plans - provided she agreed
to a number of conditions, including continuing her secondary-school education
through an online teaching programme set up for Dutch-speaking children abroad.
Dutch
newspaper de Volkskrant reports her lawyer, Peter de Lange, “is furious about
the latest action of the school attendance enforcement officers.” Laura has had
enough of Dutch authorities, he says. “She was almost put into care. And now
this.”
A Dutch
court had ordered authorities to take temporary guardianship of Laura when she
was 13, while her case was being assesed by psychologists.
Turns back
on Dutch citizenship
Officially,
Laura does not have to comply with Dutch regulations concerning her education,
as she is no longer registered as a Dutch citizen. She holds New Zealand
citizenship because she was born on a boat there while her parents were sailing
around the world.
De
Volkskrant says the World School, which organises the education by
correspondence, is afraid a precedent will be set if they don’t intervene.
“Laura is contending with an 80-year school attendance battle. Compulsory
school attendance is sacred in the Netherlands.”
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.