Romanian Educational System - Kindergarten

Kindergarten

Children can start as early as three years old and can stay until they are six or seven years old. Kindergarten is optional and typically lasts for 3 or 4 forms - "Small Group" (Grupa Mică) for children aged 3–4, "Middle Group" (Grupa Mijlocie), for children aged 4–5, "Big Group" (Grupa Mare) for children aged 5–6 and "School Preparation Class" (Pregătire pentru școală) for children aged 6–7. The preparation class became compulsory, and is a requirement in order to enter primary school.

Services include initiation in foreign languages (typically English, French or German), introduction in computer studies, dancing, swimming etc. All kindergartens will provide at least one meal or one snack, some having their own kitchens and their own cooks, others opting for dedicated catering services. Many kindergartens (especially private venues) will provide children with transportation to and from the kindergarten. Groups typically have 1-2 teachers (educatori) and 10-15 children (typically more in state kindergartens).

Most kindergartens offer parents three types of programs, in order to better suit the parents' schedules - a short schedule (typically 8 am to 1 pm, with one snack or meal), a medium schedule (typically 8 am to 3 pm, with one snack and one meal) and a long schedule (typically 8 am to 5–6 pm, with three snacks and one meal, and almost always including after lunch sleeping periods).

The private sector has a very large role in providing kindergarten and day care services, having a large proportion in the market share for preschool education. Typical tuition fees for private kindergarten range between 100 and 400 Euro monthly, depending on the town/city where the institution is located and on the services offered, whereas for public kindergarten there is no tuition fee (some may, however, charge for meals and/or transportation).

The relative number of available places in kindergartens is small, many having waiting lists or requiring admission and formalities to be done at least six months in advance. The lack of available places is especially obvious in state-run kindergartens, that charge no tuition fees, especially given the relatively high tuition fees of private venues. Local councils, especially in larger cities (such as Bucharest or Sibiu), where both parents typically work, seeing an increase in demand, have begun investing in expanding existing kindergartens, building new ones or offering stipends for private kindergartens as to cover part of the tuition fees.

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Famous quotes containing the word kindergarten:

    Life begins at six—at least in the minds of six-year-olds. . . . In kindergarten you are the baby. In first grade you put down the baby. . . . Every first grader knows in some osmotic way that this is real life. . . . First grade is the first step on the way to a place in the grown-up world.
    Stella Chess (20th century)

    While waiting to get married, several forms of employment were acceptable. Teaching kindergarten was for those girls who stayed in school four years. The rest were secretaries, typists, file clerks, or receptionists in insurance firms or banks, preferably those owned or run by the family, but respectable enough if the boss was an upstanding Christian member of the community.
    Barbara Howar (b. 1934)

    Taking men into the union is just the kindergarten of their education and every force is against their further education. Men who live up those lonely creeks have only the mine owners’ Y.M.C.As, the mine owners’ preachers and teachers, the mine owners’ doctors and newspapers to look to for their ideas. So they don’t get many.
    Mother Jones (1830–1930)