Day care for children

In Slovakia, the preschool education is provided until the beginning of the compulsory school attendance. It is both non‑institutional and institutional. The non‑institutional form of preschool education takes places in the family. The institutional form of preschool education is carried out in preschool establishments represented by kindergartens and special kindergartens. Preschool establishments admit children between the age of 3 and 6 years. Exceptionally, it is possible to admit children from the age of 2 years. Preschool education in preschool establishments is also provided to children over 6 years of age, whose start of compulsory school attendance was postponed or whose fulfilment of compulsory schooling was additionally postponed.

Preschool establishments are set up with varied lengths of operation such as half‑day, full day, weekly and continuous operation. A prevailing number of kindergartens are operating full day, usually from 6:00 to 18:00, according to the parents’ needs.

State kindergartens are the norm; however, church and private kindergartens are becoming quite common, too. In most kindergartens, the education is provided in Slovak, though there are several kindergartens (mostly state ones) with Hungarian and Ukrainian as communication languages aimed predominantly at children of those nationalities.

Some private kindergartens provide education in foreign languages. Check sample lists of this kind of establishments:

The list of kindergartens in Slovakia is available at the website of the portal EduWorld (in Slovak only).

Contact phone numbers of kindergartens, primary, secondary schools, and universities can be found at Yellow Pages. 

Are you coming with a child of school age? Take a look at the education system in Slovakia.