After the compulsory schooling debate – parent defends “Thaimout”

The “thaimout” phenomenon has led to a heated debate on compulsory schooling in Sweden.
Now one of the parents is shouting against the debate.
– We have never been to a better school, says parent Simon Milton.

There are numerous examples of parents who have been fined several thousand kroner after they violated the school obligation by taking their children from the cold in Sweden to the sun in, for example, Thailand. Part of the debate is also that parents have given each other different tips online about how to go about exploiting loopholes in the regulations.

The fact that the debate has just centered around Thailand is partly due to the fact that there are no schools in the country that are officially approved by the National Board of Education.

The parent about the debate

But now one of the parents is tired of the debate. Simon Milton is one of the parents who spends the winter half year in Thailand with his children in a Swedish school there. He believes that the debate “slanders” him and many other parents who have chosen to do the same thing.

– The debate is one-sided and everyone is drawn over the same comb. It’s about parents who make selfish choices, and we don’t recognize ourselves in those images, he says on Friday’s After Five.

Simon Medin tells us that the school his children go to is not approved by the National Board of Education, but has been considered a perfectly good alternative by several Swedish municipalities. He also believes that the school follows the Swedish curriculum and works with certified Swedish teachers. But the teachers who remain working in Sweden believe that it leads to extra work and that students return with insufficient knowledge.

– I can only look at my own children, and they have developed fantastically. The insight we parents get into education in Thailand is unprecedented, says Simon Milton.

That’s the compulsory schooling

There are Swedish schools in both Europe and Africa that are approved by the National Board of Education, and receive state subsidies for Swedish students’ schooling. The reason why the schools in Thailand have not been approved is because no school authority has reviewed how, among other things, the Swedish curriculum is followed.

Skolverket’s lawyer Anna Medin says that many parents who want to take their children to Thailand apply for longer leave from the school. The principal of the school then makes an assessment as to whether or not the student can be on leave, and the student must have special reasons for the leave. But if a student gets permission to complete his school duty in another way, for example going to school abroad, the municipality decides and the decision can differ depending on where the student lives.

– There are also requirements for extraordinary reasons. Then it must be a reason for the child and not the parents. The main rule is that you go to school in Sweden, says Anna Medin.