Online School & Homeschool in Bogotá

Online school and international curriculum in Bogotá

For Bogotá families — Cambridge and IB taught live in the morning, which for a jornada tarde student is exactly the free half of the day.

Live online Cambridge IGCSE, Cambridge A-Level, Pearson Edexcel International, IB Diploma Programme, and American Curriculum with Advanced Placement (AP) for Bogotá families. The capital holds Colombia's corporate and financial weight, its diplomatic community, its university centre, and a deep international and bilingual school sector — Colegio Nueva Granada, the British, German, French, Italian and Anglo schools, and a very large calendario B bilingual tier — priced at the top of the Colombian market. Colombian law on educating outside school is genuinely unsettled, and we set out both readings rather than picking the convenient one. We teach from Nairobi, eight hours ahead, so our classes land in the Colombian morning.

Challenges Bogotá families face

International and bilingual school fees in Bogotá sit at the top of the Colombian market.
Colombian law on educating outside school is contested, with serious sources reaching opposite conclusions.
Compulsory education runs from five to fifteen — but validation of studies has its own defined rules and age conditions.
We teach eight hours ahead, so our classes land in the Colombian morning, not the afternoon.
Time zone: Colombia runs COT (UTC-5) with no daylight saving — a fixed eight-hour gap behind Nairobi.

Why Bogotá families choose Smartious

Morning classes, which is the point in Colombia: We teach eight hours ahead, so our block lands in the Colombian morning — the free half of the day for every student in jornada tarde.
The legal position stated fairly, not conveniently: Colombian sources disagree about educating outside school. We give both readings, name the decrees, and send you to the Ministerio and your secretaría de educación.
A fee gap against a strong local tier: Live small-group teaching from USD 5,076 a year against Bogotá international fees at the top of the Colombian market.
Cambridge A-Levels for UCAS: The bilingual sector is large and the A-Level route is thinner — and A-Levels are what British admissions reads most directly.
Spanish kept alongside: Cambridge Spanish runs beside the English-medium core, protecting Colombian and Spanish university routes.

Colombia is the country in our coverage where we are least willing to give a one-word answer, because Colombian sources give opposite ones. What is settled: article 67 of the Constitution makes education compulsory between the ages of five and fifteen, comprising one year of preescolar and nine years of educación básica; article 27 guarantees the freedoms of teaching and learning; article 68 gives parents the right to choose the type of education for their minor children; and article 7 of Ley 115 de 1994 makes the family the fundamental nucleus of society and first responsible for the education of its children. What is contested is what follows. Colombian home-education organisations argue that the law makes education compulsory but not schooling — that nothing in it speaks of escolarización — and describe the position as a vacío legal in which families may educate at home provided they ensure quality and validate the results; Red Enfamilia Colombia puts it exactly that way. Others read Ley 115 as requiring enrolment of minors in authorised institutions, and hold that non-presential education is available only to adults or to people in exceptional personal or social circumstances, with attendance otherwise required between five and fifteen. We are not going to resolve that for you, and any provider who tells you it is simple is selling rather than advising: confirm your family's position with the Ministerio de Educación Nacional and your secretaría de educación. What is clear and useful is the validation machinery. Decreto 2832 de 2005 regulates validación por grados, allowing authorised institutions to evaluate those who have acquired each grade's knowledge. Decreto 299 de 2009 permits validating the entire bachillerato through a single examination for those over eighteen. Decreto 1075 de 2015 integrates these into the sector's single regulatory decree and defines the validation options for those not schooled. And Saber testing at grades 3, 5, 9 and 11, regulated by ICFES, provides external reference points throughout. Our own default is the one that raises none of this: live teaching alongside a school enrolment.

Smartious delivers to Bogotá families online; the live programme is complete without in-person supplementation.

Live online via Smartious LMS in the Colombian morning. With a fixed eight-hour gap and no daylight saving on either side, an 07:00-10:00 Colombian block sits in our normal late-afternoon teaching hours every week of the year, with all sessions recorded.

Bogotá holds Colombia's corporate and financial centre, its diplomatic community, and a deep international and bilingual school sector priced at the top of the national market — inside a legal framework on home education that Colombian sources themselves dispute. Colombia runs COT (UTC-5), eight hours behind Nairobi, so our teaching lands in the Colombian morning.

Family situations we work with

Corporate, financial, and professional families outside the international tier's fees.
Students in jornada tarde whose mornings are free.
Diplomatic and international-organisation families.
Bilingual-sector families wanting a full international examination track.
Families targeting UK, Spanish, American, or Canadian universities.
Students past the compulsory range running the educación media years differently.

Bogotá communities and nearby areas

Chicó and Usaquén · Chapinero · Cedritos · Chía and Cajicá · La Calera · Suba · Soacha

Common questions from Bogotá families

Is homeschooling legal in Colombia?

Colombian sources genuinely disagree, and we will not pretend otherwise. Home-education organisations argue that education is compulsory but schooling is not, and describe the position as a legal vacuum; others read Ley 115 de 1994 as requiring enrolment in authorised institutions, with non-presential education limited to adults or exceptional circumstances. Confirm your family's position with the Ministerio de Educación Nacional and your secretaría de educación rather than with any provider.

How would our child's studies be validated?

Colombia has defined machinery: Decreto 2832 de 2005 regulates validación por grados; Decreto 299 de 2009 permits validating the whole bachillerato in a single examination for those over eighteen; Decreto 1075 de 2015 integrates the options for those not schooled; and ICFES Saber testing at grades 3, 5, 9 and 11 provides external reference points.

Eight hours — how does the timetable work?

Our classes land in the Colombian morning, not the afternoon. For a student in jornada tarde, whose school runs in the afternoon, that is exactly the free half of the day. After-school and morning blocks are both available, since we run two teaching teams in different time zones.

Why Cambridge when the bilingual sector is so large?

Because bilingual schooling is not the same as an international examination track, and Cambridge A-Levels are comparatively thin here — which matters for anyone applying through UCAS.

Guides for families in Colombia

What parents say

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“What I love most about Smartious is how they make learning enjoyable. The tutors use engaging methods that keep children interested throughout the lesson. My child now looks forward to studying instead of avoiding it.” — Google reviewer, Google review