Children and school in Peru: enrolment, the school year and revalidation
Your child can be enrolled in Peru at any school in any district, with a carné de extranjería or passport. Public schools are free and may not require an entrance exam. The school year starts in March. Because the Netherlands has no education treaty with Peru, you have earlier school years revalidated at the ministry in Lima.
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Your child can be enrolled in Peru at a school of your choice, in any district. The Ministry of Education, MINEDU, accepts a carné de extranjería, a passport or a birth certificate as proof of identity for foreign children. At a public school enrolment is free, without an entrance exam. Your child's age on 31 March decides the grade in which it starts, and the 2026 school year began on 16 March. If your child has already completed school years in the Netherlands, you have them revalidated.
| What | The rule | Term or amount |
|---|---|---|
| Enrolment at a public school | free; no exam, no compulsory purchases, contributions or parents' fund | within the district's enrolment period |
| Enrolment at a private school | conditions and amounts in the school's regulations | to be announced 30 days before applications |
| Age for the grade | the age on 31 March | every school year |
| Start of the 2026 school year | public schools | 16 March 2026 |
| Revalidation of Dutch school years | at MINEDU in Lima, with apostille and translation | S/ 66.50; decision within 30 working days |
How do you enrol your child?
You look for a school through Identicole, MINEDU's search portal, or you visit in person. You apply for a place with your child's proof of identity and proof that you are the parent or legal representative. As a foreigner you can use, among other things, a carné de extranjería, a passport, an identity card or a birth certificate.
When you apply does not determine whether you get a place. If there are more applications than places, children with a mild or moderate disability get priority, as do children with a brother or sister at the same school. A school may also have other priority rules, if they are in its own regulations and the parents know them. After allocation the head registers your child in the pupil register, the SIAGIE, and you get a free copy of the enrolment form. Ask for the pupil code too; you need it at a next school.
At a public school enrolment may not depend on an exam, on buying school supplies, on contributions to the parents' fund (the APAFA) or on extra documents. A private school may ask for more, if it announces its conditions and amounts to parents thirty days before applications open.
When does the school year start?
The school year starts in March. For the 2026 school year the public schools opened on Monday 16 March. Enrolment for a new school year therefore falls in December and January; for 2025 MINEDU mentioned applying until 3 January and allocation between 6 and 17 January. For those arriving mid-year the page gives no deadline; ask the school for a place.
Do you have to get Dutch school years recognised?
Yes. MINEDU has two routes. Convalidación applies to countries with a treaty, such as the countries of the Convenio Andrés Bello, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The Netherlands is not among them, so for you the revalidación applies: your child catches up on subjects that differed in the Dutch curriculum.
MINEDU only recognises completed school years, year by year, and does not convert grades. Half a Dutch school year therefore does not count. Ask the school in the Netherlands before you leave for the reports and certificates of every completed year, signed, so that you can have an apostille put on them.
You apply in person at MINEDU in San Borja, Lima; it cannot be done elsewhere. You submit the application form, two copies of your passport or carné de extranjería, and the original school documents with two copies, bearing an apostille. An apostille for a Dutch document is issued by the district court; Peru is a party to the convention. Documents in a language other than Spanish come with a translation signed by an identifiable translator. You pay S/ 66.50. Within 30 working days you receive the decision by email.
Which residence status does your child have?
A minor child of a resident gets the familiar residente. If the parent is a foreign resident, Migraciones grants one year of residence, renewable; with a Peruvian parent two years. You apply from outside Peru, for S/ 58.80; see the residence routes. With your child's carné de extranjería, valid for three years for children, you also enrol him or her with the SIS; see healthcare in Peru. When to arrange the school papers in your move is in the route to Peru.
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 Peru or go straight to step 3.5 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- MINEDU — school enrolment, with the documents for foreign children — gob.pe
- MINEDU — the start of the 2026 school year on 16 March — gob.pe
- MINEDU — validating or revalidating foreign primary and secondary schooling (S/ 66.50, 30 working days) — gob.pe
- MINEDU — which recognition you need for each type of foreign education — gob.pe
- NederlandWereldwijd — Peru among the countries of the Apostille Convention — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- NederlandWereldwijd — an apostille for a Dutch document is issued by the district court — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- Migraciones — the familiar residente status for a minor child — gob.pe
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