Online, Virtual and Homeschool Education in Ninety-Nine Countries — the Guides and the School Behind Them

By Alfred Ouko, Founder · August 2026 · 14 min read

Ninety-nine country guides, four hundred and ninety city guides, and two hundred and fifty-two articles setting out how education outside school actually works in each of them — the ministry, the law, the examinations, the clock. We built it because families in all of those places ask us how it works, and because a school that cannot tell you how your own country works has no business teaching your child. This is what that produced, and what it means for a family choosing where to educate.

The scale, stated plainly

Smartious teaches live Cambridge IGCSE, Cambridge A-Level, Pearson Edexcel International, the IB Diploma Programme and American Advanced Placement to students in more than forty countries. Ninety-nine countries and four hundred and ninety cities have their own dedicated guide. Two hundred and fifty-two published articles sit behind them. Every class is live, every class is capped at four to six students, and every class is taught by a subject specialist rather than delivered as a recorded module. We started in Nairobi in 2018 with one curriculum and one country. The reach came from doing the work country by country, and it is still growing.

Why we did the research ourselves

Because it cannot be bought or scraped. Every country guide required reading the governing statute, identifying the ministry that actually administers education there, establishing where a student physically sits a Cambridge or Edexcel paper, and working out what the timezone means for a live class rather than a recording. That is ninety-nine separate pieces of research. We publish all of it, free, whether or not a family ever enrols. It is the single strongest thing we own and we give it away, because a family that understands their own position makes a better decision — and better-informed families are the ones we teach best.

What that research actually turned up

Far more variation than the industry admits. Puerto Rico requires no registration, no notification, no state curriculum and no teacher certification — the freest framework anywhere on earth. Germany requires school attendance. Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ruled on the question directly. Uruguay has proceedings before its courts as we publish. Israel grants annual permits and approves the great majority. Chile offers exámenes libres, a genuine state certification route without school enrolment. Bolivia pairs a strict statute with a working umbrella-school practice. The Maldives runs Cambridge and Edexcel as its national secondary system, so an international qualification there is not foreign at all. None of that survives being flattened into a list of countries with ticks and crosses, which is what families are usually offered.

The arithmetic that makes small live classes possible

Here is the mechanism, because it explains everything else. A subject that four students want is unviable at any single school in the world — no head of department can justify a specialist teacher and a room for four, and none is being unreasonable. Four students spread across four countries is a full class. That is why we can run Further Mathematics for a student on a Maldivian atoll, A-Level Physics for a family in the Paraguayan Chaco, and Chemistry for a mining household in Kolwezi, all in the same week and all taught by specialists. It is not a workaround for the absence of a school. It is a better way of assembling a class than geography allows.

Where that solves something no campus can

An island of two thousand people cannot house a Further Mathematics specialist at any budget. Nepal’s A-Level sector is heavily concentrated in the Kathmandu valley, so families outside the capital region have funded second households to send sixteen-year-olds away. Hong Kong has outstanding schools and waiting lists that leave an October arrival with nowhere to go. Petroleum families in Basra, resort staff across the Maldivian atolls, farming families in the Chaco, engineering households on the Copperbelt — none of them has an education problem. They have a distribution problem, and it is the same one in all ninety-nine countries. Solving it is the entire purpose of the school.

Two teaching teams, so the clock is never the constraint

Most online schools operate from one place and ask families to fit around it. We do not. Smartious runs two teaching teams in different time zones, which means live classes are available around the clock rather than inside a single window — and a family in Guadalajara, Kathmandu, Auckland or Vancouver is offered a class at the hour their child is actually free, not the hour that happens to suit a head office. That is an operational decision rather than a geographic accident, and it is expensive to run. It is also the difference between a live class and a recording watched alone, which for most students is the difference that decides whether the year works. Specific weekly slots are confirmed with each family at enrolment.

How we place families, which is where the expertise shows

Choosing the right route is a judgement, and we make it in the open. Some families need a full-time international programme; most need two or three subjects alongside the school they already attend, because that is what the law where they live supports. Some need Cambridge A-Levels; some are better served by Advanced Placement, and in the Gulf and Southeast Asia the IB often wins. Occasionally the right answer is a route we do not offer at all, and we say so — an umbrella school in Bolivia, a nationally accredited provider where a family specifically needs a national diploma. Getting that judgement right is what ninety-nine countries of research buys, and it is the part that a curriculum package with a login cannot do at any price.

What we hold, and what we are building next

We teach toward Cambridge International, Pearson Edexcel, the IB Diploma and Advanced Placement — qualifications set and marked by independent examination boards and read directly by universities in more than a hundred and sixty countries. That is the strongest currency in international education and it is what our students leave with. Alongside it we are actively investing in national and international accreditation to widen the routes we can offer directly, and expanding the country programme further. A family enrolling today gets examinations that already travel everywhere; a family enrolling as that work lands will have more options still.

What to do next

Open the guide for wherever you live. It will tell you which ministry governs your situation, what the compulsory range is, where your child would sit the paper, and what a live class would look like on your clock — in more detail than you will find anywhere else, including from us in conversation. Then book an assessment. Our Head of Admissions reviews every request within three business days, there is no waiting list, and the first thing we will ask is which subjects your school cannot offer and where your child hopes to study next.

Twelve country guides worth reading even if you do not live there

These are the markets where what we found is furthest from what is published elsewhere — and where the detail changes what a family should actually do.

Puerto Rico — No registration, no notification, no state curriculum. The freest framework anywhere on earth.
Maldives — Cambridge and Edexcel are the national secondary route, not a foreign alternative.
Uruguay — A constitutional argument, a 2020 amendment, a referendum and proceedings before the courts.
Brazil — The Supreme Federal Court has ruled directly on whether a right to home education exists.
Chile — Exámenes libres — the only genuine state route to full-time study in Latin America.
Bolivia — A strict statute paired with a working umbrella-school practice, and how the two fit together.
Israel — Annual permits, a restrictive formal directive, and a Ministry that approves the great majority.
Cyprus — Three substantially different published answers to one question. We set out all three.
Iraq — Two education authorities in one country — which applies depends on where you live.
Nepal — An entire A-Level sector inside one valley, and the world’s only forty-five-minute timezone.
Hong Kong — Outstanding schools, famous waiting lists, and a provider with none.
Kenya — Where we started, where we teach from, and the only clock we share with our students exactly.

The Continental Guides

One guide per continent, each comparing home-education law, examination access and time zones country by country, and linking to every country hub within it. We started the series in August 2026.

Africa — 20 countries — Four legal shapes, an extractive belt spanning six countries, and the widest timezone gap on the continent is three hours.
Europe — 34 countries — Four genuinely different legal tiers inside a region small enough to drive across.
Asia — 28 countries — The widest regulatory range we cover, and the best timezone relationships we have anywhere.
North America — 8 countries — Fifty state frameworks, thirteen provincial and territorial ones, and the freest framework on earth in Puerto Rico.
South America — 10 countries — A Supreme Court ruling, live litigation and the only genuine state examination route in Latin America.
Oceania — Australia and New Zealand — Eight state and territory regimes, and a national exemption certificate.
The Americas — overview — North, Central and South America in one read.

Ninety-nine countries, four hundred and ninety cities, and a live class of four to six students wherever you are. Open the guide for your country — it is free and it is the most detailed one written — then book an assessment for your child.

Frequently asked questions

What makes Smartious different from other online schools?

Three things you can check rather than take on trust. Every class is live, capped at four to six students and taught by a subject specialist — not recorded modules or a curriculum package. We teach in ninety-nine countries and publish a detailed guide to the law, examinations and timezone for every one of them. And we place families by judgement rather than by sales script, which is what the research is actually for.

Which qualifications do students leave with?

Cambridge IGCSE and A-Level, Pearson Edexcel International, the IB Diploma Programme and American Advanced Placement — set and marked by independent examination boards and read directly by universities in more than a hundred and sixty countries. UCAS reads A-Levels natively, and American, Canadian, Australian, Gulf and European institutions read them and the IB without conversion. We are also actively investing in further accreditation to widen the routes we can offer directly.

How many countries do you teach in?

Ninety-nine, with four hundred and ninety city guides and two hundred and fifty-two articles behind them. Every country hub sets out the ministry, the compulsory range, the home-education position, examination access and the timezone relationship for that specific market.

What does it cost?

From USD 423 a month for Primary (payable termly; fees vary by curriculum and level) for live small-group teaching through to A-Level, quoted in USD. No debenture, no capital levy, no waiting list, and a child can start within a week of the assessment.

Do you replace my child’s school or work alongside it?

Both configurations exist and the right one depends on where you live. In some markets a full-time programme is straightforward; in most, two to four subjects alongside an existing school enrolment is the stronger arrangement and the one the local framework supports. Your country guide says which, and it is the first thing we would want you to read.

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