Education in Chile is provided by a mixed system of public, privately run but publicly subsidized, and fully private institutions, overseen by the Ministry of Education. Under the General Education Law of 2009, the system has four levels: early childhood education (), primary education (), secondary education () and higher education. Schooling is compulsory from the last year of early childhood education (kindergarten) through the end of secondary school. Attendance at the compulsory levels is close to universal.
Since the reforms of the 1980s, most schools have been funded through a voucher-style subsidy, and public schools were run by municipalities until a gradual transfer to new regional Local Public Education Services began in the late 2010s. The system is highly stratified by family income, and its fairness and quality have been a leading subject of political debate. Student movements in 2006 and 2011 helped bring about reforms, including the 2009 General Education Law, a 2015 inclusion law that ended selective admissions and for-profit operation in subsidized schools, and fee-free tuition for lower-income higher education students since 2016.
Chile ranks among the top performers in Latin America on the PISA assessment, but below the OECD average, and its 2025 results fell in mathematics and reading.
History
Independence and the nineteenth century After independence, the new republic built an educational framework that included the National Library (1813) and the Instituto Nacional (founded in 1813), and decreed free primary schools for towns with more than fifty residents. Under President Manuel Bulnes (1841–1851), the government created teacher-training colleges for primary school teachers and established the University of Chile in 1842, with Andrés Bello as its first rector. A 1860 law made primary education free and the responsibility of the state, and it created an inspectorate to supervise state schools.
Church-run and state-run education coexisted throughout the century, and disputes over state supervision of teaching versus freedom of instruction led to the founding of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 1888, the country's first private university. The Pedagogical Institute, created in 1889 under the University of Chile, was established to train secondary school teachers.
Twentieth century
The Compulsory Primary Instruction Law of 1920 made primary schooling obligatory and closed the period in which the primary system was consolidated. It set the minimum at four years of schooling, and by 1929 the minimum had been raised to six years.
The first university outside Santiago, the University of Concepción, opened in 1921. It was followed in regional cities by the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (1928), Federico Santa María Technical University (1931), the Austral University of Chile (1954) and the Catholic University of the North (1956). The Technical University of the State was formed in 1947 by merging the School of Arts and Crafts with other public technical institutes. The Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) was established in 1954 to coordinate the traditional universities.
A 1965 reform under President Eduardo Frei Montalva set the structure that has survived to the present: eight years of compulsory primary school and four years of secondary school.
After the 1973 coup, the military government decentralized and liberalized parts of the system while curtailing democratic participation in education. In 1981 it divided the University of Chile and the Technical University of the State into regional and metropolitan universities, authorized private universities outside the Council of Rectors, and created professional institutes and technical training centers. Public schools were transferred from the state to municipalities, and subsidized private schools were allowed to compete with them for students and public funding. A 1990 organic law on education, the (LOCE), was issued on the eve of the return to democracy and set out minimum requirements for schooling.
Following the return to democracy, successive governments increased investment in school infrastructure and teaching, adopted the Teaching Statute in 1992, and from 1996 began introducing the full school day together with a curriculum overhaul. In 2003 a constitutional reform under President Ricardo Lagos made secondary education compulsory and free, which guaranteed twelve years of schooling.
Twenty-first century The 2006 student protests, known as the "Penguin Revolution," put education at the center of national politics, and student protests have recurred almost annually since. The protests led to the replacement of the LOCE in 2009 by the General Education Law (Law 20.370), which changed admission rules, the curriculum and the recognition of schools. A second, larger wave of protests followed in 2011, focused on the cost and quality of higher education and on for-profit operation.
Several university closures and scandals eroded public confidence in higher education, including the closure of the Universidad ARCIS, the bankruptcy of the Universidad del Mar, and allegations that members of the National Accreditation Commission had sold accreditations to private universities.
Under the second administration of Michelle Bachelet, a series of reforms began. A 2015 inclusion law banned selective admissions in publicly funded schools, phased out parental co-payments in subsidized private schools and prohibited those schools from operating for profit, with gradual implementation. Fee-free tuition () for lower-income students began in 2016 through the annual budget law and was later codified in the Higher Education Law (Law 21.091), in force since 29 May 2018. Law 21.040 of 2017 created a new public education system that transfers schools from the country's 345 municipalities to 70 Local Public Education Services (, SLEP).
Administration and regulation Legal framework Chile has acceded to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), whose article 26 declares education a right, and to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), whose article 13 does likewise. Both are given constitutional rank through article 5 of the Constitution.
Article 19 of the Constitution guarantees the right to education (no. 10) and freedom of education (no. 11). The right to education includes the preferential right and duty of parents to educate their children, compulsory schooling from kindergarten through secondary school, and the state's duty to finance a free system. Freedom of education includes the right to open, organize and maintain schools within limits set by morality, public order and national security, and it requires a constitutional organic law to regulate these matters. The constitutional protection writ () covers only freedom of education.
The General Education Law (LGE, Law 20.370) of 2009 governs school education, and its provisions were consolidated with the surviving parts of the LOCE into a single legal text by decree in 2010 (DFL 2). The provisions of the LOCE that apply to higher education institutions remain in force.
Institutions The Ministry of Education sets policy and is supported by undersecretariats for education, early childhood education and higher education. The 2009 General Education Law replaced the Superior Council of Education with the National Council of Education. A 2011 quality-assurance law then divided the ministry's functions into three bodies and created two new regulators: the Superintendency of Education, which enforces rules and manages complaints, and the Agency for Quality in Education, which evaluates and orders schools. Both began operating in the second half of 2012. Law 20.835 of 2015 created the Undersecretariat for Early Childhood Education and an Early Childhood Education Intendancy. In 2025 Law 21.753 modernized the early childhood sector with the aim of strengthening quality, oversight and coverage. Higher education is regulated by a separate Superintendency of Higher Education created under Law 21.091.
The transfer of public schools to the 70 planned SLEPs has been slower than originally scheduled. As of January 2026, 36 SLEPs were operating, serving more than 642,000 students and children in over 3,000 schools, and the schedule for completing the transfer was extended to 2029.
Structure + Levels of the Chilean education system Level Spanish name Typical ages Notes Early childhood 0–5 Last level (kindergarten) is compulsory Primary 6–13 Eight grades in two cycles Secondary 14–17 Four grades; scientific-humanistic, technical-professional or artistic Higher education 18 and over Universities, professional institutes, technical training centers
In 2020, Chile had 16,474 educational establishments: 4,373 for early childhood, 11,342 for primary and secondary education, and 140 higher education institutions. National enrollment that year was 5,079,313 students.
Early childhood education
Early childhood education serves children from 85 days of age to six years. The levels are:
: children between 85 days and one year of age : between one and two years : between two and three years : between three and four years (pre-kindergarten): between four and five years (kindergarten): between five and six years
The law establishes free access to the last two levels. A constitutional reform in 2013, announced by President Sebastián Piñera, made kindergarten compulsory and a prerequisite for entering primary school, which brought guaranteed schooling to thirteen years. Early childhood care is provided by nurseries and kindergartens run by municipalities, subsidized private operators, private operators, the National Board of Kindergartens (JUNJI) and the Fundación Integra foundation.
Early childhood enrollment has been falling because of Chile's declining birth rate; it dropped by about 15 percent over the five years to 2025, the largest decline of any level. Coverage in 2009 was 37.42% for children aged 0 to 5.
Primary and secondary education
Primary and secondary school are compulsory for all Chileans. The 1965 reform established primary education as the initial cycle of schooling. Before that, legislation in 1920 had established four years of minimum mandatory education, raised to six in 1929. Primary school lasts eight years in two cycles:
First cycle: 1st grade (ages 6–7) through 4th grade (ages 9–10) Second cycle: 5th grade (ages 10–11) through 8th grade (ages 13–14)
Secondary education lasts four years and is divided into scientific-humanistic (the standard academic track), technical-professional (vocational) and artistic programs. The first two years follow the same curriculum in all three, and the last two are differentiated by the orientation of the school. From the third year of the scientific-humanistic track, students can choose more advanced coursework in science (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology) or humanities (literature, history, philosophy). Technical-professional schools are mainly:
Industrial schools: electricity, mechanics, electronics, informatics, among others Commercial schools: management, accountancy, secretarial work and similar fields Technical schools: fashion, culinary arts, nursing and the like Agricultural schools Polyvalent schools, which offer programs from more than one of the types above
Most students who choose the vocational branch come from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. The 2003 constitutional reform established free and compulsory secondary education for all Chileans up to the age of 21. Adult education and special education () are separate modalities within primary and secondary education.
Proposed change to a 6+6 structure