Kindergartens and nurseries in Bulgaria

Education · Last reviewed: 2026-08-23

Two separate systems: nursery and kindergarten

The institution caring for the youngest age group is the nursery, and it sits within healthcare rather than education; its staffing, supervision and internal logic follow from that. The kindergarten is part of the pre-school and school education system: its curriculum, staffing and supervision run along the Ministry of Education and Science line. In practice, in many towns a nursery group and a kindergarten share one building and look like a single institution from outside; legally, however, they are two regimes, and admission rules and document lists can differ.

The practical benefit of the distinction is that it sends your question to the right desk. Medical certificates, immunisation schedules and the conditions for returning after an infectious illness belong to health regulation on the nursery side. Curriculum, compulsory pre-school education, absences and school readiness belong to education regulation on the kindergarten side. A question asked at the wrong door is a question that goes unanswered.

When pre-school education becomes compulsory

Pre-school education is compulsory from the school year beginning in the year the child turns four; parents choose one of the available forms, while the state and municipalities are obliged to create conditions for children to be accommodated in kindergartens and pre-school groups. The change came with a legislative amendment in force from the beginning of 2021 and was phased in: during the transition the obligation applied only in municipalities that had created the conditions, and municipalities were required to have them in place by the start of the 2023–2024 school year (Social Assistance Agency announcements, consulted 23 August 2026). Check where your own municipality stands today on its own website.

Compulsory pre-school and school education in state and municipal kindergartens and schools is free for children and pupils. That is a guarantee at the level of statute, and it is among the most important things a newly arrived family can know: you do not pay tuition for your child's pre-school education in a municipal institution.

Fees: what is actually paid today

For many years parents paid a monthly municipal fee for kindergarten. That changed: from 1 April 2022 parents no longer pay fees for attendance at municipal kindergartens and nurseries, nor for meals, and the municipalities' lost income is compensated from the state budget through per-child maintenance standards (government reports and legislative amendments, consulted 23 August 2026). So today's rule is that no fee is collected from the parent for attendance and meals in a municipal institution. Municipalities may nevertheless provide additional funding from their own budgets, and some optional activities may still be charged.

• •Municipal fee for attendance and meals: as a rule not collected — still, verify your municipality's current decision.
• •Optional activities (foreign languages, sport, dance, swimming) are usually paid and voluntary; they cannot be made compulsory.
• •Materials, bedding and spare clothes vary between institutions; the list is given at enrolment.
• •In a private kindergarten the fee is entirely the institution's own decision and sits in the contract.
• •Voluntary parental contributions are not mandatory; if they are presented as mandatory, ask the municipality.

Admission: there is no single national queue

The biggest misconception here is to assume kindergarten admission runs through a national system. It does not: admission to municipal kindergartens is governed by each municipality's own decision and ordinance. Most large cities have an online application system and a points system; points typically come from address registration, a sibling already in the institution, the parents' employment or student status, single parenthood and similar criteria. The weight of each criterion differs substantially between municipalities, which is why there is no points table on this page — your municipality's table is the one that counts.

1. 1

   Find your municipality and its system

   Open the kindergarten admission section on your municipality's official site; if there is an online system, note its address.
2. 2

   Complete your address registration

   The most commonly used criterion in the points system is address registration, and it is not retroactive. The date of entry matters.
3. 3

   Create a profile and register the child

   A personal number (EGN or LNCh), birth certificate and parents' details are required.
4. 4

   Build a list of preferences

   Most systems allow several institutions. Naming only one increases the risk of ending up without a place.
5. 5

   Follow the ranking dates

   Placements happen on set days and there is often a separate confirmation step; a missed confirmation forfeits the place.
6. 6

   Submit the file after acceptance

   Medical documents and immunisation status are required at this stage; an incomplete file delays enrolment.

How the day is organised

The forms of organisation of pre-school education are defined in law and are not left to the institution's preference. In the full-day form the child stays from morning to evening, meals and an afternoon nap included; in the half-day form the child spends part of the day; the hourly form is more limited participation; the independent form is a routine run by the family but monitored by the institution. For a child of compulsory pre-school age, the chosen form is declared at enrolment and considered together with the institution's capacity.

The practical questions families ask most concern the daily rhythm: breakfast and lunch times, the afternoon nap, time spent outdoors, how allergies and special diets are handled, what document is required on return after illness. All of this has a written counterpart in the institution's internal rules and can be requested at the enrolment meeting. Asking for the written internal rules prevents most of the disputes that would otherwise arise later.

If you choose a private kindergarten

Private kindergartens must also be entered in the register of institutions in the pre-school and school education system; without registration they may not operate. So the first step is the same here: search the institution's official name in the ministry register and confirm it is registered as a kindergarten. An institution that does not appear in the register, however lovely its garden, is not legally a kindergarten and cannot be said to discharge your compulsory pre-school education obligation.

The second step is the contract. In a private kindergarten the fee, its scope, payment during holidays, reductions for sick days, notice on leaving and refund conditions all depend entirely on the contract. Reading those clauses before signing follows exactly the logic set out in [private schools](/bilgi/bulgaristan-ozel-okullar): a verbal promise binds nobody, a written annex binds.

If your child does not speak Bulgarian

Language is the biggest worry of newly arrived families, and the good news is that pre-school age is when language is acquired most easily. A three- or four-year-old learns Bulgarian not as a lesson but as play, and usually builds everyday communication within a few months. The system supports this: for children whose mother tongue is not Bulgarian, additional Bulgarian-language tuition is provided for in law and institutions are obliged to plan it. At the enrolment meeting, ask how that support is actually delivered — how many hours, by whom, within the group or separately.

Enrolment documents and the health side

After the placement decision comes the document file, and days lost here can cost you the place. Required documents differ slightly between institutions, but the backbone is the same: the child's birth certificate, personal number, parents' identity documents, address registration details and the health documents. The health side has two parts: a certificate of general health from the family doctor and a record of immunisation status. For families arriving from abroad this is exactly where the process typically jams, because immunisation records are in another language and follow another schedule.

The remedy is known and works smoothly if started early: register with a family doctor, take your immunisation records with a translation, and ask for an assessment against the Bulgarian schedule. If doses are missing, a catch-up plan is drawn up. This takes weeks rather than days; starting it only after the placement letter arrives is a mistake many families notice too late. Choosing a family doctor should be among the first tasks after moving anyway, and kindergarten enrolment is its first tangible application.

Absences and the obligation are taken seriously

For a child of compulsory pre-school age, absence is not a domestic detail. Institutions record attendance, distinguish excused from unexcused absences, and the legislation provides for these records to be reported to the relevant authorities. In practice this means: when your child is ill, when you take leave or travel abroad, the institution must be informed in advance and in writing, and a medical document is usually required on return after illness. Learn the institution's internal rules on this at enrolment.

Long absences abroad have to be settled separately. The sentence we will be away for a month does not resolve itself: whether the place is held, how the absence is recorded and what will be needed on return should all be agreed in advance. Asking in early summer produces a far better result than asking in early September.

The calendar and the working parent

A kindergarten calendar is not a work calendar, and for working families it requires planning several times a year. In summer, institutions run duty and maintenance periods; in some periods an institution closes and children are directed elsewhere. Public holidays, temporary decisions during epidemic conditions and staff training days also affect it. None of this is a surprise — it is all in the institution's annual plan; the surprise is that the family never asked for that plan.

Once enrolled, ask for the annual calendar and put it next to your own leave plan. Rather than both parents taking leave in the same week, split it around the periods when the institution is closed — that solves the year's biggest logistical problem in advance. For families with children in different institutions, the calculation doubles.

If you do not get a place

Especially in the central districts of large cities, demand can exceed capacity and the first ranking round may not produce a place. That is not the end of the process. The order is: widen your list of preferences (not only the nearest institution but several reachable ones), follow subsequent ranking rounds, read your municipality's rules on waiting lists, and keep your application live for places that open during the year. In addition, for children of compulsory pre-school age the state and municipalities have an obligation to create conditions; if no place can be found, notifying the municipality in writing is far more effective than complaining verbally.

Meanwhile there are interim solutions: in some families one parent's working pattern changes temporarily, others turn to a private institution, others start with the half-day form. Whichever you choose, keep your application active in the system — places opening up mid-year is common.

Moving on to school: why the last year is different

The final pre-school year is the system's school-readiness year and its content thickens accordingly: language and speech, mathematical concepts, knowledge of the surrounding world, fine motor skills and school routines are concentrated here. At the end of that year the institution issues a document certifying completed pre-school education, and it is required when enrolling in the first grade. For families arriving precisely in that year this is a point to watch: how the document will be obtained should be discussed at the enrolment meeting.

Enrolment in the first grade runs through an entirely different system and is usually more competitive than kindergarten admission; school catchment areas, a proximity criterion and a sibling rule weigh heavily there. That topic is covered in [enrolling in a state school](/bilgi/bulgaristan-devlet-okuluna-kayit). The commonest mistake at this transition is to assume the two systems work by the same rules.

Settling in: the first three weeks

Most institutions apply a gradual settling-in period: the first days are short, with a parent present or half-day, and the time lengthens step by step. This is a pedagogical choice and should not be rushed. For a child who has just moved to a new country, adjustment comes not only from the institution but from the language, the climate and the new home; comparisons with other children are therefore useless. The best thing a family can do is keep the first month's calendar a little flexible and stay in daily contact with the institution.

• •Ask for the settling-in plan in writing: how many hours in week one, who may stay, when does the full day begin?
• •Is the child allowed to bring a familiar object (blanket, toy)?
• •How is daily feedback given — verbally, through an app, in a notebook?
• •How are allergies and special diets recorded and communicated to the kitchen?
• •Who is called in an emergency, and how is a backup contact registered?

Children with temporary or international protection

Children seeking or granted international or temporary protection also have the right of access to pre-school education, and that access is free in state and municipal institutions. For families with incomplete documents the first counterparts are the municipality and the regional education authority; describing the situation in writing and asking which document is needed at which stage produces a much faster result than going from door to door. The topic is also covered in [international schools](/bilgi/bulgaristan-uluslararasi-okullar).

One last note: the kindergarten is a family's first regular social network in the country. Talking to other parents is the fastest source of practical neighbourhood knowledge — which doctor, which shop, which class — and none of it appears on any official page. Attending parents' meetings is the cheapest and highest-return investment of the first year.

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