School in Ecuador: thirteen years of compulsory education, and first have the school years recognised

In Ecuador your child goes to the educación general básica, basic education, for ten years and then to the bachillerato for three years. Both are compulsory (articles 42 and 43 of the Ley Orgánica de Educación Intercultural), and public education is free. If your child comes from a Dutch school, you have the years completed recognised by the Ministry of Education. That costs nothing and can be done online. For a public school the ministry then decides in which grade your child starts.

Level	Age or duration	What the law says
Educación inicial	3 to 5 years	the state must provide it
Educación general básica	10 years, after the educación inicial	compulsory
Bachillerato	3 years, after the básica	compulsory, access to higher education
School year	200 teaching days in day schooling
Recognition of Dutch school years	per grade	free, online or at a district office
Visa for your child	as an amparado on your visa	50 + 200 dollars, as long as your visa runs

What does the Ecuadorian school system look like?

The educación inicial is for children from three to five. The law places providing it with the state; up to three, upbringing is mainly the family's task. Then come the ten years of educación general básica and the three years of bachillerato. In the bachillerato pupils follow a common core and choose a track, such as the bachillerato en ciencias.

The school year has two hundred teaching days in day schooling. Public education is free: the law quotes the constitution, which makes public education free up to and including the first stage of higher education. Besides public schools there are fiscomisionales, schools often run by religious organisations that are funded wholly or partly by the state, and private schools. With partial funding a fiscomisional charges fees (article 55).

How do you have Dutch school years recognised?

With the reconocimiento de estudios realizados en el exterior. You need your child's identity number, or passport, and the school documents. Article 175 of the regulations says the ministry first tries to verify them through an official digital system of the country of origin. If there is none, the original documents must be legalised by that country's Ministry of Education, or carry an apostille. Have documents in another language translated into Spanish.

For a public school the district office decides on the grade in which your child joins. A private or fiscomisional school decides that itself. A Dutch secondary school diploma is recognised separately, with the homologación of the diploma.

Arrange the papers in the Netherlands. You first have a diploma or transcript legalised at DUO and then at a court, which adds the apostille. Also bring the reports of the last few years; from Ecuador it is hard to obtain an original from a Dutch school afterwards.

According to article 52 of the law, the ministry may never restrict the right to education, whatever the child's origin or situation.