Place guarantee to ECEC

Local governments are obliged to provide all children aged from 1.5 to 7 years permanently residing in their catchment area with the opportunity to attend a preschool child care institution in the catchment area if the parents so wish.

Preschool Child Care Institutions Act § 10.  Duties of local governments (1) A rural municipality or city government shall provide all children from eighteen months to seven years of age whose residence is in the administrative territory of the given rural municipality or city and whose parents so wish with the opportunity to attend a preschool institution in the catchment area.

For children with special needs, conditions will be created for learning in integration groups together with other children. If there are no possibilities to establish an integration group in a local child care institution, the local municipality or city government creates special groups or establishes special preschools.

Lisbon strategy sets out that by 2020, 95% of all children from 4 years old to school age (i.e. in Estonia, children aged 4 to 6) will be involved in basic education programmes.

In 2019/2020, 66,330 children attended 614 preschool child care institutions. 81% of children aged under 3 years and 94% of children aged 3-6 years attended preschool child care institutions. 

In 2007–2013, the Government of the Republic supported local governments in creating new preschool places and renovating the existing ones from European Structural Funds to the extent of approximately 47 million euros. Support for local governments for creating new preschool places is included also in the next ESF period 2014-2020 in the amount of approximately 40.5 million euros to be covered by the ESF and ERDF measures. The amendments to the Preschool Child Care Institutions Act adopted in 2014 allow local government to be flexible in providing preschool places for children aged 1.5-3 years. At the request and with the agreement of a parent, a local government can replace a preschool place for daycare, whereas the parent’s own contribution must not exceed 20% of the minimum wage established by a Regulation of the Government of the Republic.

Affordability

In a preschool child care institution, parents cover the enrolment fee and the costs of children’s catering (so-called study place fee). Parents may also partially cover the management costs of the preschool child care institution as well as the remuneration of the staff and the costs of teaching aids. Preschool child care institutions are mostly municipally owned and the local governments establish the rate for the amount to be covered by parents. The fee may be differentiated according to the age of the child, the financial situation of the family, etc. There are also municipalities where parents do not have to pay at all for a study place. According to the law, the share of costs per child covered by a parent may not exceed 20% of the minimum salary established by the Government of the Republic.

See more about the financing of ECEC in Chapter 3.