Pre-school education under the pre-school education programme is provided to children from 1 to 6 years old. Institutional pre-school education is not compulsory and is provided upon parents' request. This kind of education can be compulsory in individual cases (to children from social risk families, etc.). Pre-school education is provided by public and private nurseries-kindergartens, kindergartens, and kindergartens-schools.
Pre-primary education is provided for one year. Education is provided to 6-year-old (in exceptional cases - five-year-old) children and is intended to better prepare children for school entry. Education is free, universally available, but is not compulsory. Parents have the right to decide whether their six-year-old child should be educated under the pre-primary education programme or not.
Pre-primary education groups are established in kindergartens or schools. In remote villages, municipalities can establish such groups in community multi-functional centres or children can be brought by school buses free of charge to the nearest school, where such group has been established. The following flexible pre-primary group models are offered to municipalities: groups working a few days per week, at weekends, or during school holidays, groups of a camp type, etc.
Children attending pre-primary groups learn new skills which will be useful in school: to interact with age-mates and stranger adults and orient themselves in a new environment. The following competencies are mostly developed through games: social, health protection, world recognition, and artistic.
If a child is educated at home, his/her parents are informed about pre-primary education novelties and consulted on important child's education issues. Upon parents' request, children can be provided with special pedagogic and psychological assistance.