Compulsory Education

The communes or the canton are responsible for running public schools.

You can register your child here:

Registration for nursery or primary school

• For children in Basel-Stadt: primary schools in Basel-Stadt
• For children in Riehen: community schools in Riehen
• For children in Bettingen: community schools in Bettingen

Registration for secondary school:

• Secondary schools in Basel-Stadt

Compulsory education consists of three consecutive levels:

• 2 years of nursery (Kindergarten)
• 6 years of primary school (Primarschule). Does your child need special support or have special skills? They can receive suitable support here.
• 3 years of upper-level school (Sekundarstufe I). Upper-level school includes three different school types (A-Zug, E-Zug, and P-Zug), with different levels of difficulty.
• Is German not your child's mother tongue? They can receive special support in all three levels.

Besides compulsory school, children can attend classes in their local language and culture (heimatliche Sprache und Kultur, HSK). The children learn the language and can then better understand, speak, read, and write it. They learn about the history, geography, festivals and traditions of their home country, for example. We recommend these courses. They are voluntary and usually cost money.

Public school is free of charge. Boys and girls are taught together. The curriculum is confessionally neutral. Most children and young people attend public school (95%) during compulsory schooling. There are also private schools. If you want to send your child to a private school, you must pay for it yourself.

School is required to inform you about what your child does at school and how good they are at school. Meetings are held between you and the teacher for this purpose. There are also parents' evenings, where the teachers inform all the parents of a class. Plus, there are information events for the school. When your child goes to school, you need to attend these meetings and events. You are also responsible for ensuring that your child regularly attends school.

Perhaps your child is unable to go to school one day because they are ill, for example. You then need to inform the school. You must also make sure your child does their homework. You can help your child with this. For instance, you can ask what they did at school. You can also regularly take a look at the homework. This way, you show that you are interested.

If you are not yet familiar with the Swiss school system, you can find out about it at an event. There are information events especially for people who are new to Switzerland. For this reason, the events are also often held in other languages than German.

If you have questions about school, you should always talk to the teacher first. The teacher is also there if you need support. Perhaps the teacher believes your child needs something. Or the teacher has a question about your child. In that case, talk to them first. It is important for parents and teachers to work well together.

Your child may have psychological or social issues. The school psychology service (Schulpsychologischer Dienst) can help you and your child. Its help is free of charge.