School in Cape Verde.

Cape Verde's education system is organized along Portuguese lines but has followed its own legislation for decades. The governing law is the Lei de Bases do Sistema Educativo (LBSE), the foundational education law. The version in force today traces back to Decreto-Legislativo n.º 2/2010 and was substantially restructured by Decreto-Legislativo n.º 13/2018 (Boletim Oficial, I Série, No. 80 of 7 December 2018). The Ministry of Education (Ministério da Educação) provides the full text on minedu.gov.cv - we took the following figures directly from this legal text, not from secondary sources.

Preschool: from the year the child turns 4

§ Art. 16 LBSE By law, educação pré-escolar is aimed at all children from the year they turn four. The law speaks of "universalization": the state must create the conditions for all children to have access - explicitly including through partnerships with municipalities and support for private kindergartens (Jardins de Infância). The text does not, however, frame preschool as compulsory in the strict sense. Relevant for foreign families: the law explicitly states preschool should familiarize children with the Portuguese language - making it the natural entry point if your child doesn't yet speak Portuguese.

Ensino básico: eight years, two cycles

§ Art. 14, 20, 23 LBSE The core is ensino básico: universal, compulsory, and free, lasting eight years, organized into two consecutive four-year cycles. Children enroll who turn six by December 31 of that year. In the first cycle, one teacher essentially covers all subjects, supported by specialist teachers in particular areas; the law names oral mastery of Portuguese, reading, writing, and arithmetic as priorities. In the second cycle, foreign languages and IT are added - the law explicitly names learning two foreign languages as a goal. The final two years are treated as transition years with career and school-pathway guidance.

"Free" is precisely defined in the law: in ensino básico, there's no tuition (propinas), fees, or administrative charges for enrollment, registration, or certificates. Students can also receive school social-assistance benefits (ação social escolar).

Ensino secundário: grades 9 through 12

§ Art. 14, 24 LBSE Since the 2018 reform, ensino secundário consists of a single four-year cycle (grades 9 to 12), split into two alternative paths: the via geral (general, university-track) and the via técnica (technical-vocational). Tuition is also waived here; the more extensive fee exemption of ensino básico, however, is not explicitly extended to the secondary level in the legal text. Additional, optional foreign languages are meant to be offered at the secondary level.

How long does compulsory schooling last?

§ Art. 13 LBSE Worth a close look here, since secondary sources contradict each other (we found figures ranging from "6 to 14 years" to "6 to 18 years"). The legal text says: the state guarantees compulsory and universal education through grade 10 and creates the conditions to gradually extend compulsory schooling through grade 12. The age at which the compulsory-attendance obligation ends is set by a separate government decree per Art. 20, which we could not check in full text. Our recommendation: plan on compulsory schooling for at least the eight years of ensino básico, and budget firmly for the secondary level too.

Private schools need state authorization

§ Art. 85, 86 LBSE Alongside the public system, the law also recognizes ensino particular e cooperativo - private and cooperative schools. They need state authorization, are subject to state quality oversight, and must employ teachers with the same qualifications as public schools. The state also determines the conditions under which qualifications from private and special programs are recognized as equivalent (Art. 3). For you, this means: ask every private school whether and on what basis it's authorized in Cape Verde - and what certificate your child will end up holding.

✓ Verified The language of instruction and examination at public schools is Portuguese. The mother tongue of nearly all Cape Verdeans, however, is Kriolu (Kabuverdianu), a Portuguese-based creole language with notable differences between islands. The 2018 LBSE explicitly emphasizes elevating the "língua nacional cabo-verdiana" as a mother tongue and cultural heritage - but the language of instruction remains Portuguese.

For children from German-speaking families, this means a double hurdle: Portuguese is expected in the classroom, while Kriolu is predominantly spoken among classmates. We did not find an official integration or language-support program from the Cape Verdean education ministry specifically for immigrant children without Portuguese skills ◐ not officially documented. That doesn't mean schools don't individually support such children - but you can't rely on a structured program.

◐ Community value Experience reports from expat families paint a fairly consistent picture: children of preschool and early primary age often learn Kriolu and Portuguese surprisingly quickly in daily life, while teenagers who enter mid-secondary struggle considerably more - not just linguistically, but academically, since exams are written in Portuguese. If you can time the move, switching before or at the start of a school cycle is reportedly easier than switching mid-cycle.

What this means for binational families

If one parent has Cape Verdean roots and speaks Kriolu at home, the starting position is considerably better - the child already understands the everyday language and only "needs" to build up school Portuguese. Conversely: German is not taught in the Cape Verdean school system. Anyone wanting to maintain German at school level has to organize that privately, for instance through the Deutsche Fernschule (see below). More on the situation of mixed couples in the Binational Couples guide.

✓ Verified The options in Mindelo are considerably fewer. The main option is the Polo do Mindelo of the Escola Portuguesa de Cabo Verde, established as an EPCV branch via Portuguese Portaria n.º 297/2023 of 4 October 2023. Per DGAE, it offers preschool and the three cycles of the Portuguese ensino básico - i.e., through grade 9 by Portuguese numbering. According to this information, the upper secondary level (grades 10 through 12) exists only at the main campus in Praia. Its predecessor was the Escola Portuguesa do Mindelo, a non-profit private initiative that started in 2016 and operated without public funding.

◐ Own research We did not find an English- or French-language school with a full curriculum in Mindelo; a French-language expat guide (Jarnias, January 2026) also concludes there's no real international school there. Don't confuse this with the "Mindelo Escola Internacional de Arte" (M_EIA) in the historic Liceu Velho - that's an art college, not a general-education school.

Sal and Boa Vista: On Sal, the École Internationale de Sal (EIS) in Murdeira is a bilingual French-Portuguese school, founded in 2009 by a parents' association, an AEFE partner school with recognized primary classes (CP through CM2) and around 50 children; higher grades run through CNED. ⚠ Check status The school's website was no longer reachable when we checked, and its Facebook page hasn't been updated since 2024 - confirm current operation directly with AEFE or the school itself before making a decision. For Boa Vista, a single expat guide mentions a French school in Sal Rei - we could not independently confirm this ◐ single source.

§ Law At public schools, no tuition and no enrollment or certificate fees apply in ensino básico; at the secondary level, tuition is waived. Still, budget for school supplies, books, possibly a uniform, and transport - we found no reliable average figures for these.

€ Price estimate ◐ Single source For Cape Verdean private schools, an overview article from Cabo-Verde.CV (April 2026) cites a range of roughly 5,000 to 25,000 CVE per month (very roughly €45 to €230). We found no second, independent source for this range.

€ Price estimate ⚠ Can change For the British International School, the press report on its opening (September 2026) cites the following monthly fees: for Cape Verdean children €250 (preschool) or €300 (grades 1-6); for international students €400 (preschool) or €550 (primary); higher rates apply for children whose tuition is covered by employers, embassies, or international organizations.

⚠ Historical figure EPCV published, for 2018, an enrollment fee of 7,000 CVE, a school insurance fee of 250 CVE per year, and a monthly tuition of 7,000 CVE (September through June). These figures are eight years old and only give a sense of scale - we found no publicly available current rates for 2026/27; ask the school directly. For Les Alizés, no fees are publicly available.

To see how school costs fit into a family budget, see our Cost of Living page.

German certificates in Cape Verde

✓ Verified For school qualifications in ensino básico and secundário, the Director for National Education (Diretor Nacional de Educação, DNE) determines equivalency. Per the Ministry of Education's delegation on Sal, the following must be submitted: an application addressed to the DNE, the original certificate (which is returned) with a certified copy, a passport copy for foreigners, and certified Portuguese translations of all foreign-language documents by sworn translators, authenticated at the national registry office, an embassy, or a consulate. For higher-education qualifications, the regulatory authority ARES (Agência Reguladora do Ensino Superior) is responsible.

Cape Verdean certificates in Germany

Anyone later returning to Germany has foreign school certificates evaluated through the certificate-recognition office of the relevant federal state. We cannot responsibly make a blanket statement about how a Cape Verdean grade-12 certificate is classified in Germany ◐ case-by-case review - that depends on the specific certificate, subjects, and grades. EPCV qualifications follow the Portuguese curriculum and, per the school, lead to university access in Portugal; as an EU qualification, they're generally easier to place in Europe. If you're planning to return, ask the responsible state office before choosing a school.

German school? Distance school as a bridge

◐ Own research As far as we could determine, there is no German school abroad in the network of the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (ZfA) in Cape Verde. For the primary-school years, the Deutsche Fernschule (Wetzlar) offers state-approved distance learning for German-speaking children abroad - per its own description, for preschool and primary school through grade 5, German instruction through grade 8, ZFU-certified, with a certificate meant to ease re-entry into the German school system. Many families use offerings like this as a supplement to the local school, to maintain German at school level.

Homeschooling: legally unresolved

⚠ Not officially documented The 2018 LBSE regulates public, private, and cooperative schooling - we did not find any form of home schooling (in Portugal, "ensino doméstico") in the legal text, nor an official statement from the ministry on it either. This explicitly does not mean homeschooling is allowed: the law defines ensino básico as compulsory, and private schools need state authorization. Anyone wanting to educate their child exclusively via distance learning (e.g. Deutsche Fernschule or French CNED) should get this confirmed in writing in advance with the Ministry of Education's delegation - and for children with a residence permit, also check whether the authorities require proof of school attendance.