Pre-school education in the Republic of Cyprus

Pre-school education includes nurseries and kindergartens. Since maternity leave in Cyprus lasts only 18 weeks, each family may send their child to a nursery. Compulsory pre-school education lasts from 4 years and 8 months to 6 years. Despite preparing kids for school, kindergartens use a bilingual system to get the children ready to learn several foreign languages.

Cypriot kindergartens may be municipal, community, and private. In private - British, Russian, French, Lebanese - kids always learn a second language. Many British kindergartens are attached to British schools and the schools - to the universities. So, children may get into a British school without an interview and enter a British university under preferential conditions, with final school exams counted as entrance exams. After kindergarten, one receives a certificate, which is preferable for school enrollment.