El Salvador

Compulsory Education

7–15

Legal Status

According to the Ministry of Education, home education is not legal because it is not a modality of the Educational System, as explained below.

General Education Law (Decree No. 917):

The Educational System of El Salvador is divided into two modalities: Formal Education and Non-Formal Education (Article 8).

• Formal Education is taught in authorized educational establishments, in a regular sequence of academic years, subject to progressive curricular guidelines. Formal Education is subdivided into initial, preschool, basic, secondary, and higher levels (Article 9).
• Non-Formal Education operates without being subject to the system of levels and grades of Formal Education. Its purpose is to complete, update, and supplement knowledge and to train in academic or professional aspects (Article 10).

The law also includes informal education, which is acquired freely and spontaneously, from people, entities, mass media, traditions, customs and other unstructured sources (Article 10).

Article 11 establishes that formal education levels will be open to all those coming from non-formal or informal education, with the sole requirement being passing an evaluation process. Article 63 also provides that “every self-educated individual has the right to request from the Ministry of Education the proficiency tests that accredit their incorporation into the different levels of the education system.”

The law also refers to the right of parents to choose the education of their children (Article 92).

The above text (with minor editing) is taken directly from OLASE (OLASE - Observatorio Latinoamericano de Aprendizajes sin Escuelas).

Contact Information

OLASE

Observatorio Latinoamericano de Aprendizajes sin Escuelas
Website: sinescuela.org

REEVO, Alternative Education Network

Contact: Franco Iacomella
Email: franco@reevo.org