Section 51 of the South African Schools Act states that parents must register their child with the Head of Department (HOD) of a Provincial Education Department (PED) should they wish to home educate their child who is of compulsory school-going age (from the age of 7 up to the age of 15). Impaq advises parents to register their children for home education with their respective PED.

The law provides parents with the choice of either enrolling their children at a school or educating them at home. When a child is educated at a school, it is the responsibility of the school to ensure that the education of the child is of a good standard and, where applicable, complies with the requirements of the national curriculum (CAPS). When a child is educated at home, the responsibility shifts to the parent and cannot be delegated or assigned to anyone else. Parents are responsible for ensuring that the standard of education received at home is at least equivalent to the standard of education the child would have received in a public school.