Asia contains the widest range of education frameworks we have written about anywhere, and lumping them together does families a disservice. One country in this region runs Cambridge as its national curriculum. Another grants annual home-education permits and approves most of them. A third bans foreign teachers based outside the country from teaching its students at all. This guide sets out those differences honestly — including the one market where we have narrowed our own offer rather than widened it.
One distinction to get right before you read further
"Homeschooling" and "online schooling" are not the same thing in law, and in several countries they are treated very differently. A child enrolled at a registered school who takes additional subjects online is usually in a different legal position from a child being educated at home under a parental arrangement — different registration requirements, different reporting, sometimes a different authority entirely. Most of what Smartious does is the first of those: live subject teaching alongside a school a child already attends. Where a country page describes a home-education framework, that is the second. Confirm which applies to your own child with the authority where you legally reside, because the answer turns on residence rather than nationality or where a provider is based.
The regulatory range, from freest to strictest
At one end sits Israel, which permits home education by annual Ministry permit and, on the reporting available, approves the great majority of applications despite a formal directive that reads restrictively. In the middle sit a great many countries — Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, the Maldives — where we could not verify a published position on parental home education and say so rather than guessing. At the far end sits mainland China, where the 2021 Double Reduction policy bans for-profit tutoring in academic subjects for compulsory-education students and places a strict ban on foreign teachers physically based outside China teaching students in China. We do not enrol compulsory-education-age mainland residents for subject teaching, and our China pages open with that rather than bury it.
Timetabling across a region that spans nine hours
Asia stretches from Cyprus to Japan, which no single teaching base can serve well — so we do not use one. Smartious runs two teaching teams in different time zones, and live classes are available around the clock rather than inside one window. That matters most at the edges of this region: a family in Tokyo, Seoul or Taipei gets the same choice of after-school and evening slots as one in Amman or Beirut, rather than being told which single block is possible. Several Asian markets are also unusually close to our original UTC+3 base — Jordan and Iraq sit on it exactly, Israel, Cyprus and Lebanon within an hour — which simply widens the choice further. Specific weekly slots are confirmed with each family at enrolment.
Where Cambridge is the national route, not an alternative
The Maldives is the standout and it inverted our entire pitch there. IGCSE was introduced in 2002 for grade 10 and A-Level for grade 12 to qualify students for the diploma of lower and upper secondary education, and the secondary curriculum is designed around the Edexcel examinations. Cambridge is not foreign in the Maldives — it is the certification route, and any provider marketing it as an exciting international alternative has not understood the country. Bangladesh is a softer version of the same thing: the English-medium sector has run O-Levels and A-Levels for decades and the qualifications are thoroughly understood. In both, our role is teaching capacity rather than curriculum.
The geography problem, which is sharper here than anywhere
Three markets in this region have a distribution problem rather than an education problem. The Maldives spreads a population across around two hundred inhabited islands, where an island of a few thousand people cannot house a Further Mathematics specialist at any budget. Nepal’s A-Level sector is heavily concentrated in the Kathmandu valley, which creates a real geographic access problem for families outside the capital region — a household in Pokhara or Biratnagar choosing that route at grade 11 has traditionally meant sending a sixteen-year-old away and funding a second home. Hong Kong has outstanding schools and waiting lists that mean a family arriving in October frequently has nowhere to put a child at all. None of those is fixed by a better curriculum. All three are fixed by a live class of four to six students drawn across cities and countries.
The Gulf, which is its own market
The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain share a pattern worth naming: very large expatriate populations, deep international school sectors, high fees, and families whose next posting may be another country entirely. Portability matters more here than almost anywhere — a child who changes school system with each move pays in curriculum alignment and sometimes a repeated year, while a child on one live pathway pays nothing because only the address changes. Gulf universities, many of them branch campuses of British and American institutions, read Cambridge A-Levels and the IB directly.
What we would tell an Asian family choosing a provider
The same three questions we would put anywhere, plus one specific to this region. What does the law in my country actually say, with the instrument rather than a summary? Where will my child sit the paper, and is that subject open to private candidates — which in the Maldives genuinely varies by syllabus? Is the teaching live, and how large is the class? And the regional one: if you are in mainland China, ask any provider which part of the Double Reduction policy they are relying on. If they cannot answer, that tells you something.
Every country we teach across Asia and the Pacific
Twenty-eight countries and territories, each with a dedicated hub covering the legal position, the cities we reach, examination access and the local school market. The note against each is what most distinguishes it.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi — one of the deepest international school markets in the world.
Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province energy corridor.
Doha’s Education City and a heavily internationally recruited professional class.
A long-established British-curriculum sector and a large expatriate population.
Muscat, Sohar and Salalah, with energy and logistics families.
A compact market with deep British-curriculum roots.
Home education by annual Ministry permit, most of which are approved. Closest clock we have.
Zero timezone offset year-round, and dinar fees effectively fixed by the dollar peg.
Two education authorities — federal and the Kurdistan Region — depending on where you live.
One record read across four continents of family ties, plus AUB and LAU in English.
Three different published answers on home education. We set out all of them.
Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, with a large private and international sector.
Tbilisi and Batumi, with a growing internationally connected professional class.
Baku and the Caspian energy sector, with a portable subject spine.
A vast market where Cambridge and the IB sit alongside CBSE and ICSE.
Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, with O-Level and A-Level long established.
Cambridge is decades old here. Sylhet’s UK ties make UCAS-native A-Levels matter most.
A-Levels sit almost entirely in one valley. UTC+5:45 — the world’s only 45-minute offset.
Cambridge and Edexcel are the national route. We supply specialists an island cannot house.
UTC+6:30 — after-school teaching lands squarely in our day.
Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket, with a very large international sector.
Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, with a fast-growing international market.
Kuala Lumpur and Penang — among the strongest value in international schooling anywhere.
Hong Kong and Macau served in full. The mainland position set out honestly first.
Taipei and the technology corridor, with a substantial expatriate community.
Seoul and Busan, with intense academic competition and a strong private sector.
Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, with long-established international schools.
Home education regulated state by state, with registration requirements that differ.
A long-standing exemption-based home-education framework.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Asian country is easiest for home education?+
Israel operates a clearly defined permitted route, by annual Ministry permit, and reporting indicates the Ministry approves the great majority of applications. But a permit is renewed yearly rather than granted once, and we set out the formal directive alongside the practice on our Israel page rather than only the encouraging half.
Can you teach students in mainland China?+
Not compulsory-education-age students resident in the mainland, for subject teaching. The 2021 Double Reduction policy bans for-profit academic tutoring for compulsory-education students and places a strict ban on foreign teachers physically based outside China teaching students in China. Hong Kong and Macau are Special Administrative Regions with their own education systems and we serve families there in the ordinary way.
What time will my child’s classes be?+
Whatever suits your week. We run two teaching teams in different time zones, so live classes are available around the clock rather than inside one window — after-school, evening or morning. Specific weekly slots are agreed with each family at enrolment.
Where Cambridge is already the national system, what do you add?+
Teaching capacity, not curriculum. In the Maldives especially, an island of a few thousand people cannot house a Further Mathematics or A-Level Physics specialist at any budget. Four students across four islands plus two elsewhere make a full live class, and the qualification is the one they were already taking.
