Can you confirm that one doesn’t need to be a resident in a given country in order to apply for a visa from there?
I tried doing this for a different visa (non-US) in a country with a shorter waiting time and the consulate there said I couldn’t do it there as they’d require financial proofs and they had to be from local banks as they are not able to verify documents coming from different countries.
I’m not familiar with that system but it may be they’re not looking at it through a lens of “doing it the most efficient way” and see the benefit in allowing the children time to learn it by themselves, even if it’s less efficient.
(I often catch myself thinking about the most efficient way to do something and then realize that’s not the point for that situation.)