Education


 * Education**
 * Basic Education Law (1986):** Established minimum schooling of nine years; can leave school at age fifteen
 * Pre-School Education:** Ages three-five; optional attendance; offered at public, private, and co-operative nursery schools
 * Academic Education:** Ages six-fifteen; mandatory attendance; school year is September-June
 * -1st Cycle:** Four school years; twenty-five hours a week; rounded education (reading, writing, math, music, and art); one teacher
 * -2nd Cycle:** Two school years; thirty-one hours a week; interdisciplinary areas (humanities and arts, physical education and sports, science and technology, and moral and civic education); specialized teachers
 * -3rd Cycle:** Three school years; thirty-one hours a week; unified curriculum with vocational areas (modern culture, including humanities, literature, arts, physical education and sports, and science and technology as needed for a job or continuing education); specialized teachers
 * Secondary Education:** Ages fifteen-seventeen years; optional attendance; need basic education diploma to attend; three school years; two specializations: job market (technology courses) and higher education (general courses); specialized teachers
 * Higher Education:** Ages eighteen-twenty-five years typically; optional attendance; usually need secondary education diploma to attend; degrees offered: bacharelato (first degree course, normally three years), licenciatura (four years), master's degrees, and doctorates; specialized teachers
 * Special Education System:** Special education, vocational training, adult education, distance learning, and Portuguese language teaching abroad
 * Exta-Muros Education:** Extra schooling offered to fill in the gaps of not attending a normal school setting or to add to academic education


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