Home Schooling in Cape Verde

    Are there any laws regarding homeschooling in Cape Verde
   

    -@herculinehelena

Hi Helena,

Cape Verde is not that sophisticated...there are no laws regarding homeschooling in CV. We have no idea what that is, how to oversee it to ensure that parents execute that properly. And there are no resources offered to assist with homeschooling.

However, the Constitution of CV gives every child the right to be educated. The government has provided public schooling are provided and has now fully funded the public schools so that students no longer have to pay school fees (which used to be about €10-15 per semester). So public schooling is free (except that parents are expected to pay for books, materials, uniforms, etc). There are also several private schools which charge tuition fees. But public school is free.

There is a law which obligates parents to send their scool aged children to school, whther it be public or private. If parents do not comply, their kids can be taken away from them by ICCA (a government institution which seeks the interests of the nations children. In practice, I am unaware of any parent who does not comply with this law. HOwever, older children once they hit 16, often refuse to continue their education and drop out whether or not the parents are in agreement. The government can has no resources to attend to such older dropouts or to enforce the law. Why force a non-compliant teenager to go to school when they do not want to?

In any event, as a foreigner, non-citizen, you do not have to comply with the law which applies only to citizens. Furthermore, if your child does not speak Portuguese, what would be the point of sending them to a local school if they can't understand the language? Interestingly, you can indeed register your child in the public or private school system (if they are able to quickly learn Portuguese), and in fact there are many expats who do register their children in the CV educational system. But I also know many expats who homeschool because their kids because they believe they can do it better.

So go ahead and homeschool your kids. But there are no resources available from the CV Ministry of Education to assits. You will have to find and pay for the homeschooling resources yourself (lots of info and resources are available online). Also, be aware/forewarned that there are no privatte schools in CV which instruct students in English. But there are several that instruct in French.

Good luck,

Angelo

Thank you for your reply. I am currently homeschooling my children, here in Ireland, which is why I asked. I can assure you, I was not asking because I'm a snob. I would not take my kids to a country where a foreign language is spoken without teaching them that foreign language beforehand. I was going to teach them Portuguese before we go. I anyway have to provide for my children's education financially currently. That was never a concern. But thank you. I appreciate your time.

By the way, I've been to Ireland (Republic) and I loved it. My business partner is Irish. There are quite a number of your kinfolk here in CV chasing those 4-leaf clovers that grow abundantly on these shores. But not when they are sober. LOL.

Best regards,

Angelo