School in Brazil: compulsory from 4 to 17, free at the public school, and a file that travels via DUO and the court

Yes, your children can go to the public school, and it is free: article 208 of the constitution promises "compulsory and free educação básica from 4 to 17 years", and article 4 of the migration law gives the migrant "the right to public education, without discrimination by nationality and migratory status". So you do not have to wait for the residence card. What it costs at a private or international school depends on that school; the law leaves private education free, under supervision. The pitfall is the file: the Brazilian school wants the Dutch school papers with an apostille and in Portuguese, and the apostille on a school document goes, according to the consulate, first past DUO and only then past the court.

Level	Age	What the law says
Educação infantil, pré-escola	4 and 5 years	compulsory; the parents enrol the child from four years (LDB, article 6)
Ensino fundamental	6 to 14 years	nine years, free at the public school, starts at six (LDB, article 32)
Ensino médio	15 to 17 years	the last part of the compulsory educação básica (LDB, article 4)
School year	—	at least 800 hours over at least 200 school days, examinations not counted (LDB, article 24)
Language	—	Portuguese
Private education	—	free, provided recognised and assessed by the government (LDB, article 7)

How is the system put together?

The Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional of 1996 orders it. Article 4 obliges the state to "free and compulsory educação básica from 4 to 17 years", in three parts: the pré-escola, the ensino fundamental and the ensino médio. Article 6 puts the mirror with the parents: they are obliged to enrol the child "from four years". Article 32 makes the ensino fundamental nine years long, "free at the public school, starting at six years". And article 24 sets the measure of a year: at least 800 hours over at least 200 days of effective school work.

Whoever comes from the Netherlands with a child of ten therefore steps into the fifth year of a nine-year primary school; whoever comes with a child of fifteen, into the first year of the ensino médio, which ends three years later with the diploma. The calendar each education system sets itself within those 200 days; ask the school for the start date of the year, because it is not in the law.

Public, private or international?

The public school is Portuguese-speaking and free. Article 7 of the education law leaves education "free to private initiative", on three conditions: following the general rules of national education, a licence and a quality assessment by the government, and own financing. Private schools — and the international schools in the big cities — all fall under that, with fees the school sets itself. Which one you choose hangs on the language: a child of six learns Portuguese in the playground, a child of fourteen needs a bilingual school or a year's head start. What the choice costs belongs to the costs of the journey, not to this article.

How does the Dutch file travel?

With an apostille, because Brazil has been a party to the apostille convention since 14 August 2016, reports the Conselho Nacional de Justiça, which manages the apostilles in Brazil. What Brazil has accepted since then is a Dutch document with the apostille of the court; the cumbersome legalisation via the consulate has lapsed with it.

For school documents there is a step before. The consulate-general in Amsterdam writes for the study visa: "for academic documents, first have the signature legalised at DUO in Groningen or Rotterdam; the document is then ready to receive the apostille at a court". That applies to the diploma and the transcripts; the birth certificate goes straight to the court. Ask the Dutch school at the deregistration for the complete file — reports, a statement of the years attended, the diploma if there is one — and have the apostilles put on before you leave.

The translation you have made in Brazil, not in the Netherlands. The Brazilian school and the education department of the state want a translation by a tradutor público, the sworn translator of Lei 14.195, who according to article 22 has passed a competitive examination and is registered with the junta comercial of his state; article 24 then lets him work throughout Brazil. A Dutch sworn translation does not have that status. Bring the apostilled originals and have them translated there.

What does the school decide?

The placement. The law gives the right to the school, but the school year, the class and the test of what the child can already do are determined by the education system of the state or the municipality, and the school carries it out. Count on a conversation, a test of Portuguese and a placement that can turn out a year lower than the age says; that is no judgement on the child but on the language. What is deliberately not here: the exact enrolment documents per state and the age limit on the reference date, because those differ per system and have not been checked at the source here. The child benefit from the Netherlands stops on departure; the rest of that sum is in AOW, pension and tax, and the order after arrival in the first weeks.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey, step 3.5: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Brazil or go straight to step 3.5 in the open plan.