In Sweden, schooling is compulsory for all children between the ages of seven and sixteen. If parents so wish, children may start school when they are six.
Tuition is compulsory and free of charge.
Parents do not usually incur any costs for teaching materials, school meals, health care or school transport, etc. A new national curriculum for basic school, Lpo 94, came into effect in the autumn of 1994. It defines the underlying values and basic objectives and guidelines of the school system. In addition, there is a nationally defined syllabus for each individual subject. Each municipality is obliged to adopt an education plan which demonstrates how the schools in the municipality are to be organised and developed.