According to data published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday, the number of enrolled children in preschools has increased in Bosnia and Herzegovina this year, however, it is far lower than the European average.
According to the information, in the school year 2017/2018, in 321 pre-school institutions (187 public and 134 private) 25,889 children were enrolled, including 544 children with special needs.
According to the estimates, about 14 percent of children in BiH are enrolled in preschool education, which is still significantly lower than the European average.
When data is compared to the previous school year, the number of preschool institutions was down by 3.3 percent, and the number of preschool children increased by 3.9 percent.
The report states that due to filling of the capacities in 2017/2018, a total of 2,777 children were not admitted to preschool institutions, and the total number of employees in these institutions is 3,666, recording a 5 percent increase year-on-year.
“Ensuring access and increasing the coverage of preschool education is the most important priority when it comes to this level of education because, according to the existing statistical data, BiH is at the bottom of the ranking of European countries in terms of preschool enrollment”.