Avira, what I think these Sephardim (and Maharal) were holding by – learning mikra as kids first. The person I mentioned was a Rav in a golus community afterwards, so he did learn more than mikra either at that school or later. I’ll try to find out more details. But also I think you kind of assume that the school was “the education”. hopefully, most students did not go to meet their Maker right after graduation. So, they would learn the rest later on. Persian merchants were more likely to afford – 3-hour-a-day work and learning the rest than most ashkenazim. (Another sephardi community I heard of worked for several weeks a year, travelling to pick up some carpets and then selling them to support themselves for the rest of the year).
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