Online School & Homeschool in Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Online school and international curriculum in Santa Cruz de la Sierra

For Santa Cruz families — Cambridge and IB taught live alongside your school or your colegio sombrilla, whichever you hold.

Live online Cambridge IGCSE, Cambridge A-Level, Pearson Edexcel International, IB Diploma Programme, and American Curriculum with Advanced Placement (AP) for Santa Cruz families. The eastern lowland capital is Bolivia's economic engine — soy, cattle and agro-industry at export scale, gas services, corporate headquarters, and the fastest population growth in the country — with the strongest international school tier Bolivia has, including the Santa Cruz Cooperative School and the German and Anglo-American schools. Bolivia's legal framework is strict on educating outside school and yet a real working practice has developed here, and we set out both accurately before anything else.

Challenges Santa Cruz de la Sierra families face

International school fees in Santa Cruz sit at the top of the Bolivian market with competitive places.
Education is compulsory up to bachillerato under Ley 070, with Educación Regular expressly obligatory.
Families using a colegio sombrilla still need an internationally examined qualification for study abroad.
Smartious is not authorised by the Bolivian Ministerio de Educación.
Time zone: Bolivia runs BOT (UTC-4) with no daylight saving — seven hours behind Nairobi, so mornings and very early afternoons work.

Why Santa Cruz de la Sierra families choose Smartious

Works alongside a colegio sombrilla, not instead of one: Umbrella schools carry the Bolivian enrolment and curriculum coverage; we teach the internationally examined track. Families frequently need both and we say so.
Agricultural and business depth for an export capital: Cambridge A-Level Biology, Chemistry, Economics and Business suit soy, cattle and agro-industrial families directly.
A fee gap against the strongest tier in Bolivia: Live small-group teaching from USD 5,076 a year.
Seven hours, not nine: Bolivian mornings and very early afternoons both land in our teaching day — better than most of Latin America.
The statute stated accurately: Ley 070 makes education compulsory up to bachillerato and Educación Regular expressly obligatory. We do not soften that.

Bolivian education is governed by Ley 070, the Ley de la Educación "Avelino Siñani – Elizardo Pérez" of 20 December 2010, and the statute is strict in its framing. Article 1 establishes education as a right at all levels and as a supreme function and first financial responsibility of the State, and provides that the State and society have full guardianship — tuición plena — over the education system. Education is compulsory up to bachillerato, and fiscal education is free at all levels. Article 85 structures the system into subsystems, and the Subsistema de Educación Regular set out in articles 9 to 15 is described as systematic, regulated, obligatory and processual, running from Educación Inicial en Familia Comunitaria through Educación Primaria Comunitaria Vocacional to Educación Secundaria Comunitaria Productiva. One provision reads more openly than the rest: Educación Inicial en Familia Comunitaria recognises and strengthens the family and community as the first space of socialisation and learning, with its first stage described as non-schooled and of shared family and community responsibility — though commentary notes that this is largely nominal in practice, since pre-school libretas are still requested. Commentary reads the Constitution and Ley 070 together as requiring formal education in qualified centres, with possible sanctions for non-attendance, and reports that in Bolivia — as in Paraguay — rulings have gone both in favour of and against educating at home. Against that statutory background, a real working practice has developed and Bolivian families deserve to know about it. The government issued a regulation for online education covering educación regular, and under it a number of Bolivian schools began working with the homeschooling community in the eje troncal of La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, operating as colegios sombrilla — umbrella schools that carry the enrolment and curriculum coverage for families educating largely at home. Community sources also record a formal agreement concluded in 2018 with a Bolivian school acting as curriculum provider, though it did not resolve every question. We want to be precise about where we sit in that arrangement: a colegio sombrilla provides the Bolivian side — enrolment, national curriculum coverage, the domestic record. Smartious does not. We are not authorised by the Bolivian Ministerio de Educación and we issue no Bolivian qualification. What we teach are Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel, IB and AP examinations, which carry their own international validity. Those are complementary services rather than competing ones, and a family aiming at university abroad may well need both.

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

Live online via Smartious LMS. Bolivia sits seven hours behind Nairobi with no daylight saving, so Bolivian morning and very early afternoon classes both fall in our teaching day at a constant time every week, with all sessions recorded.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra is Bolivia's economic capital and fastest-growing city — soy, cattle and agro-industry at export scale, gas services and corporate headquarters — with the country's strongest international school tier at premium fees. Bolivia runs BOT (UTC-4), seven hours behind Nairobi.

Family situations we work with

Agro-industrial, soy, and cattle export business families.
Gas services, energy, and corporate headquarters households.
Families already working with a colegio sombrilla who want an international examination track.
Professional families outside the international tier's fees.
Students in turno tarde with mornings free.
Students targeting US, Spanish, Brazilian, or Bolivian universities.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra communities and nearby areas

Equipetrol · Urubó · Warnes · Montero · Cotoca · La Guardia · San Ignacio de Velasco

Common questions from Santa Cruz de la Sierra families

Is homeschooling legal in Bolivia?

Ley 070 makes education compulsory up to bachillerato and describes Educación Regular as obligatory, with commentary reading the framework as requiring formal education in qualified centres and noting possible sanctions for non-attendance. Reporting also indicates rulings have gone both ways. In practice, a regulation for online education has allowed some Bolivian schools to work with homeschooling families as colegios sombrilla in La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. Confirm your own position with the Ministerio de Educación.

What is a colegio sombrilla and do you replace one?

An umbrella school — a Bolivian institution that carries the enrolment and national curriculum coverage for a family educating largely at home. We do not replace one and could not: we are not authorised by the Bolivian Ministerio de Educación and issue no Bolivian qualification. The two are complementary, and families aiming abroad often use both.

What do you actually provide?

Live Cambridge, Edexcel, IB and AP teaching in small groups toward international examinations — the qualification a Bolivian record cannot substitute for at a foreign university.

How does the timezone work?

Seven hours, fixed. Bolivian mornings and very early afternoons both land in our teaching day, and with schools commonly running turno mañana and tarde, most students have one window genuinely free.

Guides for families in Bolivia

What parents say

Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Google from 130+ reviews. Read our Google reviews

“I am truly impressed by the level of professionalism at Smartious Homeschool and Tuition. The tutors are not only knowledgeable but also very patient and supportive. They create a comfortable learning environment where children feel free to ask questions. My child now enjoys studying and looks forward to every session.” — Google reviewer, Google review