Families looking for a school in Paraguay quickly encounter a simple narrative: private schools cost more, but they are better. The PISA 2025 results initially appear to support that view. A closer look, however, reveals a considerably more complicated – and more useful – picture.
Pytagua has already reported on Paraguay's PISA 2025 results. In a later analysis presented by the Ministry of Education and Science (MEC), students at privately managed institutions outperformed those at public institutions by 60 points in reading, 43 in mathematics, 53 in science and 68 in Learning in the Digital World. Paraguay's national PISA coordinator said socioeconomic and cultural differences were statistically controlled in that comparison. The published report of the MEC presentation gives those adjusted gaps.
That is significant, but it does not establish that attending a private school automatically causes the difference. PISA compares groups of students and education systems; it does not rank individual schools and cannot remove every difference involving families, admissions, student composition and school environments. Score gaps should therefore not be mechanically converted into supposed “years of schooling ahead”.
There is another important complication in Paraguay: “private” is not a single school model. Our earlier Pytagua guide to recognised education paths in Paraguay explains why the key issue is not only teaching style or language, but which institution is authorised to issue the records and qualifications a child may need later.
Three sectors, not simply public and private
Paraguay's education system distinguishes between oficial, privada and privada subvencionada. A subsidised private school is privately organised but receives state support. This third sector is substantial.
According to the Registro Único del Estudiante (RUE), the central student registry of the Ministry of Education and Science (MEC), 1,548,553 students were registered in 2023. Of these, 1,218,256 attended public institutions, 156,036 fully private schools and 174,261 subsidised private institutions. The same figures are also documented in a government report by the Ministry of Economy and Finance based on MEC data.
| Sector | Students in 2023 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Public | 1,218,256 | about 79% |
| Private | 156,036 | about 10% |
| Subsidised private | 174,261 | about 11% |
The distinction is visible in earlier performance data as well. In PISA 2022, 28.6% of students in public schools reached at least proficiency Level 2 in reading. The figure was 44.2% in subsidised private schools and 72.5% in fully private schools. In mathematics, the corresponding figures were 10.2%, 21.3% and 48.0%. Paraguay's INE publishes these figures separately for reading and mathematics.
Those PISA 2022 figures are not adjusted for socioeconomic differences and therefore cannot be interpreted as the effect of school management. They do, however, show why dividing Paraguay's education landscape simply into “public” and “private” is too crude.
For the adjusted PISA 2025 comparison, the publicly reported presentation instead speaks of private and public management. The reporting available so far does not clearly explain how privada subvencionada schools were treated in that particular comparison. The adjusted PISA 2025 gap should therefore not automatically be attributed to subsidised schools.
Gutenberg: a private school with its own social and technical profile
Colegio Politécnico Johannes Gutenberg illustrates particularly well why the third category matters. The school describes itself as a private, subsidised and Christian institution serving children and young people from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
English is also no longer, at least as a matter of law, something that clearly distinguishes fully private education from the public and subsidised-private sectors. Law 7607, promulgated in December 2025, makes English compulsory from preschool through the final year of Educación Media in public and subsidised-private institutions, with at least two class-hours per week. In practice, however, the intensity, teaching quality and actual use of English can still vary considerably between schools.
Alongside scientific upper-secondary programmes, Gutenberg offers technical pathways including accounting, industrial garment production, electrotechnics and metal mechanics. Its model is therefore different from international schools whose proposition places more emphasis on a foreign or international university pathway.
Gutenberg also publishes its fees unusually clearly. For the 2027 school year, the Ciencias Básicas and Ciencias Sociales upper-secondary programmes list a G. 1,360,000 enrolment fee and ten monthly payments of G. 1,360,000, according to the school's official fee table. That equals G. 14,960,000 in these core school charges for the year. The industrial technical programmes list G. 1,640,000 enrolment plus ten payments at the same amount, or G. 18,040,000.
The school also operates a scholarship system for families with limited financial means. Depending on circumstances, support may extend beyond fees to meals, uniforms and school materials.
Gutenberg should therefore not be understood as a cheaper version of an international school. It represents a different education model, with its own social mission and, in several programmes, a direct technical and vocational orientation.
Goethe: a Paraguayan qualification with German and international additions
Colegio Goethe in Asunción follows another model. The Paraguayan curriculum remains the foundation, and the school awards the national Bachillerato Científico under MEC requirements.
Students can additionally work toward the German DSD I and DSD II language diplomas. At upper-secondary level, the school also offers the GIB, the German-oriented multilingual version of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. Goethe currently teaches at least German, history and biology in German within the GIB, with the other subjects taught in Spanish.
A family can therefore combine a Paraguayan secondary qualification with German-language education and an international university-entry pathway. That is different from a school operating entirely under another country's national system.
A complete current fee schedule that would support a reliable direct comparison was not publicly available during this research. We therefore do not reproduce older prices or secondary press estimates.
The French Lycée: a French education pathway in Paraguay
Lycée Français International Marcel Pagnol is a private school linked to the French state through the AEFE network and operating under French educational standards. Its pathway leads to qualifications including the Diplôme National du Brevet and the French Baccalauréat.
For families that may later move to France or another country in the French-school network, this continuity is a central part of the proposition. It is therefore not simply a Paraguayan private school with intensive French classes.
Its fee structure also demonstrates why price comparisons require care. The official 2025/26 fee schedule separates a one-time US$2,500 admission charge, annual enrolment, ten monthly tuition payments and smaller additional charges such as insurance and examinations.
At lycée level, annual enrolment was G. 3,712,800 and the ten monthly payments were G. 2,735,200 each. Those two items alone total G. 31,064,800 for the school year, before the one-time admission charge, insurance and any applicable examination fees.
A single number in a school-price table can therefore be misleading. An enrolment fee is not monthly tuition, an admission charge is not annual tuition, and the monthly cuota is not necessarily the full price of a school year.
ASA: two curricula and two diplomas
The American School of Asunción combines U.S. and Paraguayan requirements. Its U.S.-standards-based curriculum is taught predominantly in English, while students pursuing the Paraguayan diploma complete the relevant MEC subjects, including Spanish-language coursework and Guaraní.
Students who complete the full requirements can, according to the school, receive both a U.S. High School Diploma and a Paraguayan diploma. This can be particularly relevant for families that want to keep a future U.S. or English-language university route open without abandoning a Paraguayan qualification.
The school's 2025/26 High School Profile is publicly linked. A complete current 2026/27 fee schedule could not, however, be independently verified from public material during this research. Older figures or press estimates are therefore not presented as current ASA tuition.
ACA: a U.S. model with an explicit Christian identity
Asunción Christian Academy also combines a U.S.-based curriculum with the requirements of the Paraguayan programme. The school states that it offers a dual-diploma model and is accredited or recognised through ACSI, Cognia and Paraguay's MEC.
Its Christian identity is also an explicit part of the education model. For parents, that distinction matters: two schools may offer similar formal qualifications while differing considerably in school culture, religious orientation, language and everyday educational environment.
Five schools, five different decisions
| Example | Model | What families should examine |
|---|---|---|
| Johannes Gutenberg | Subsidised private, Paraguayan, scientific and technical | Programme, scholarships, technical orientation |
| Colegio Goethe | Paraguayan qualification plus German and optional GIB | Language level, GIB access, university destination |
| Lycée Marcel Pagnol | French pathway through the AEFE system | French, international mobility, complete fees |
| ASA | U.S. and Paraguayan curricula | Dual diploma, English, current total cost |
| ACA | U.S. and Paraguayan pathway with Christian orientation | Dual diploma, English, religious profile |
These examples are not a ranking. The available data would not support one. PISA provides information about large groups of students and education systems, not whether ASA is “better” than Goethe or Gutenberg is “better” than another individual school.
Price alone answers the wrong question
Families should first establish which education pathway the child is likely to need. Is university in Paraguay the probable destination? Are Germany, France or the United States realistic possibilities? Does the family need easy transfer between national school systems? Is technical education more valuable than an international university-entry qualification? And does the child know the language of instruction well enough not merely to study that language, but to learn mathematics, science and history through it?
Only then does price become meaningfully comparable. Families should ask for the complete annual cost rather than only the monthly cuota: enrolment, admission, monthly tuition, examinations, transport, meals, uniforms, books, devices and compulsory activities.
The label “international” also deserves scrutiny. What matters is not whether the word appears in a school's name, but which curriculum is actually taught, which institution issues the qualification and where that qualification is recognised. Our guide to recognised education paths in Paraguay looks more closely at that formal question and also covers online schools and homeschooling.
What PISA 2025 really tells us
The large performance gap between privately and publicly managed schools is an important signal for Paraguay. According to the published MEC analysis, it remains substantial even after socioeconomic and cultural differences are taken into account. That raises legitimate questions about attendance, teaching conditions, resources, school organisation, student composition and other differences between sectors.
For an individual family, however, PISA does not choose a school.
Paraguay's private education sector is too diverse for that. A subsidised technical school, a German school abroad, a French lycée and a U.S.-oriented dual-diploma school are not selling the same product at different prices. They represent different education pathways leading to different qualifications.
The most useful question is therefore not: Which private school is the best?
It is: Which education pathway fits this child – and is it clear, recognised and financially sustainable over the long term?
Information checked: 19 September 2026. Fees, admissions rules, curricula and qualification routes can change. Where current prices are not publicly available, families should request a complete written fee schedule directly from the school.
Sources and further information
- Última Hora: MEC analysis of PISA 2025 by school management after socioeconomic controls
- INE: PISA 2022 reading proficiency by school management
- INE: PISA 2022 mathematics proficiency by school management
- MEF/MEC: 2023 student numbers by public, private and subsidised private management
- Colegio Gutenberg: 2027 fees
- Colegio Gutenberg: scholarship programme
- Colegio Goethe: Paraguayan secondary qualification
- Colegio Goethe: GIB programme
- Lycée Marcel Pagnol: status and AEFE network
- Lycée Marcel Pagnol: official 2025/26 fees
- American School of Asunción: curriculum and dual-diploma pathway
- Asunción Christian Academy: curriculum, dual diploma and accreditation statements