1. General information

From the 1st of September 2021, pre-primary education for a child who has reached five years of age by 31 August preceding the start of the school year from which the child will be required to attend primary school is compulsory. Pre-primary education is provided at kindergartens and combines care with education. Kindergartens are under the authority of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic. Kindergartens obtain authorisation to provide pre-primary education by their inclusion in the network of schools and school facilities of the Slovak Republic. During the transitional period, pre-primary compulsory education may also be provided by pre-primary education establishments registered in the register of pre-primary education establishments kept by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.

Kindergartens encourage children’s personal development of social, emotional, intellectual, physical, moral, and aesthetic areas; they develop capabilities and skills, and create foundations for another education. They prepare for life in society with respect to individual and age characteristics of children. Kindergartens provide education by means of school educational programmes.

Children who complete at least the final year of pre-primary education at a kindergarten prior to their compulsory school attendance in primary school obtain pre-primary education. A certificate of completion of pre-primary education certifies the level of education achieved.

Kindergartens are founded mainly by municipalities and cities (public/municipal kindergartens), natural persons or legal entities (private kindergartens), and churches or religious communities recognised by the state (church kindergartens). Kindergartens for children with special educational needs, i.e. special kindergartens, are founded mainly by District Offices in the seat of the region. They can also be founded by natural persons or legal entities, and churches.

Kindergartens are included in the network of schools; until 2008 they were included among school facilities.

Kindergartens in the Slovak Republic are founded as independent, or as part of a primary school with a kindergarten, or an organisational part of a joint school. Independent kindergartens predominate.

Education and care in kindergartens take place in the national language (Slovak) and in national minority languages.

The founders of the pre-primary education establishments registered in the Ministry of Education are natural and legal persons, churches, and religious societies.

2. Admission of children in pre-primary education

Admission of children in pre-primary education at kindergartens and special kindergartens is governed by the Education Act. Details regarding admission of children in kindergartens are governed by an implementing decree on kindergartens. Kindergartens are designated for all children, not just for children of working parents.

Parents can choose a kindergarten for their child. Admission of a child in the selected kindergarten is not conditional upon the child or parent having permanent residence in the district of the kindergarten.

As a rule, kindergartens admit children aged 3 to 6; in exceptional cases a child aged 2 may be admitted, too. Kindergartens preferentially admit children who have reached the age of 5.

In addition to the conditions for admission of children in kindergartens established by the Education Act, other conditions for admission of children are determined by the director. These conditions should be consulted with the teachers’ council of the kindergarten and then published in a visible place. Other conditions for admission of children in kindergarten must not be contrary to generally binding legislation, or discriminatory and restrictive to the rights of children or their parents. Kindergartens may not, for example, define as a condition for admission the employment of both parents or permanent residence in a given municipality.

Children are admitted to kindergartens on the basis of a written application submitted by their legal representative to the director of the kindergarten along with a statement of the child’s health issued by the child’s general practitioner. For a child with special educational needs, the parent must submit, in addition to the health statement, a statement issued by an educational counselling and prevention institution.

The director decides on admission of children in pre-primary education under Act No 596/2003 on state administration in education and school self-government and amending certain acts, as amended. If the kindergarten has available capacity, children can also be admitted during the school year.

3. Fees for pre-primary education in kindergartens

Pre-primary education at kindergartens is provided for partial payment (contribution) except for kindergartens at health care facilities (e.g. at children’s hospitals, sanatoriums). Exempt from the contribution to kindergartens are children:

• for whom pre-primary education is compulsory,
• if the legal representative of the child submits a document of being a recipient of benefits in material need and contributions to these benefits,
• who are placed in the facility based on a court decision.

Exempt from the contribution to kindergartens based on the decision of the founder are children:

• with suspended attendance of kindergarten for more than 30 consecutive calendar days due to illness or family reasons, which can be documented,
• who did not attend the kindergarten during school holidays, or when the operation of the kindergarten was interrupted by the founder, or for other serious reasons; in these cases, the legal representative pays a proportionate share of the applicable contribution.

For children who attend kindergarten within one year before the commencement of compulsory school attendance and for children whose parents are recipients of benefits in material need, the state provides a contribution for education and care contributes to the founder of the kindergarten.

4. Education and care

Kindergartens provide pre-primary education in the form of full-day education and care or half-day education and care.

Kindergartens are divided into classes. According to the Education Act, the highest number of children per class in a kindergarten providing full-day education and care is:

• 18 children per class for children aged 2 to 3 years,
• 20 children per class for children aged 3 to 4 years,
• 21 children per class for children aged 4 to 5 years,
• 22 children per class for children aged 5 to 6 years,
• 21 children per class for children aged 3 to 6 years.

The children may attend kindergarten for one, two, three or even four consecutive years. There is no system of successive classes introduced in kindergartens, i.e. during the entire time of attending kindergarten, the children are generally placed in one class with the intention of strengthening social relations among children. Educational activities in kindergartens are not structured into lessons or subjects. Educational activities take place as a continuous flow of activities in the morning and in the afternoon with different content, focus and organisation.

Daily activities, regularly repeated in a given kindergarten, are arranged in the form of a daily regime. The daily regime is arranged so as to provide room for peaceful, safe and meaningful active time spent by children in the kindergarten.

Education and care in kindergartens is carried out according to educational programmes. In the Slovak Republic, there are the following educational programmes:

• the state educational programme,
• the school educational programme.

Kindergartens have been providing education under school educational programmes since 01 September 2009. The school educational programme has to be prepared in compliance with the state educational programme for pre-primary education, with the aims and principles of education and care laid down in the Education Act. This compliance is checked by the State School Inspection, as a government body fulfilling the function of state control over the level of pedagogical management, education and care, as well as material and technical conditions, including practical teaching in schools and school facilities.

Children of foreigners with residence permit in the Slovak Republic, children of asylum seekers and children of Slovaks living abroad are provided pre-primary education in kindergartens under the same conditions as Slovak nationals.

5. Compulsory pre-primary education shall be completed by:

• by means of regular daily commuting on working days of at least four hours per day, excluding school holidays; This is without prejudice to the child’s right to participate in pre-primary education even during school holidays, or
• in the form of individual education (for medical reasons, or at the request of a parent.

Compulsory pre-primary education is provided under the compulsory pre-primary education programme, which must be in line with the principles and objectives of education and training and with the State’s pre-primary education programme. 

A child with a medical disadvantage which is exempt from the obligation to attend a kindergarten and whose state of health does not allow him/her to be educated, with the written consent of the General Medical Officer for Children and Advancement and the written consent of the educational and preventive institution, not be provided with education until the reasons for which the obligation to go to kindergarten has ceased to apply.

6. Who should citizens contact when they need assistance or advice?

If necessary, applicants applying for admission of their child in a kindergarten may consult in particular:

• District Offices in the seats of the regions, Departments of Education, seated in every regional town.
• The National Institute for Education – if they need to consult matters regarding the contents of pre-primary education.
• The State School Inspection – if they want to lodge a complaint concerning education and care, management, and conditions of education and care.
• The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic – if they need an opinion regarding legislation governing pre-primary education.

7. Frequently asked questions and answers

Is pre-primary education compulsory in the Slovak Republic?

Until the end of the 2020/2021 school year, i.e. 31 August 2021, pre-primary education is not compulsory. As of the 2021/2022 school year, pre-primary education in kindergartens is compulsory for each child who has reached the age of five as at 31 August preceding the start of the school year in which the child is to start fulfilling compulsory school attendance at primary school.