Nursery and kindergarten enrollments for 2026–2027 have gone straight after the Ministry of Education set the final shape of the calendar. The process is carried out in stages, based on tie-breaking criteria, not in the order of submission of applications. However, the experience of the past years shows that limited places and bureaucracy continue to create difficulties for parents.
From what age can children be enrolled in state nurseries and kindergartens
For the 2026–2027 school year, the age rules remain unchanged:
- Nursery (pre-school level): children aged between 3 months and 3 years;
- Kindergarten (preschool level): children between 3 and 6 years old.
The middle group and the large group in kindergarten are part of compulsory education.
Calendar of enrollment stages
According to the calendar established by the Ministry of Education, registration takes place in several stages, between May and August 2026. In the applications, parents must fill in three options, in order of preference. The application is submitted to the educational unit chosen as the first option.
1. Re-registrations: May 18 – 22
At this stage, children are re-enrolled who already attend nursery or kindergarten and for whom the parents request continuation in the following school year. Likewise, in the case of educational units that also include nurseries, 3-year-old children from the large group at the nursery can be re-enrolled in the small group at the kindergarten, within the limits of available places.
Display results and itof the places left free after the completion of the re-registration stage: May 22, 2026
2. The first stage of registrations: May 25 – June 18, 2026
- Submission of applications: 25 – 29 May 2026
- Application processing (first option): 2 – 8 June 2026
- Application processing (second option): 9 – 12 June 2026
- Application processing (third option): 15 – 18 June 2026
- Display of the result and the number of vacant seats after the second round of applications: 18 June 2026
At this stage, parents can complete three kindergarten/nursery options, depending on the places left free after re-enrollments. If the number of applications is greater than the available places, the allocation is made according to the tie-breaking criteria, not the order of submission. The list of criteria is available here.
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3. Second stage of applications: June 22 – July 9, 2026
- Submission of applications: 22 – 26 June
- Application processing (first option): June 28 – July 1, 2026
- Application processing (second option): 2 – 6 July 2026
- Application processing (third option): July 7 – 8, 2026
- Display of the result and the number of vacant seats after the second stage of applications: 9 July 2026
This stage is for children who were not allocated in the first round or who have not previously applied.
4. Stage of adjustments: 17 – 27 August 2026
In this stage, based on the requests submitted by the parents to the inspectorates, the registration of the children who were not enrolled in the first two stages (due to lack of places/for various other reasons or who did not participate in the first two stages) is carried out on the remaining free places.
At this stage the following can be registered:
- the children who remained unassigned after the two previous stages, with priority for the 4-year-old and 5-year-old;
- children who applied for enrollment in the preparatory class in primary education and were not admitted as a result of the negative opinion of the CJRAE/CMBRAE;
- children over 2 years old for whom enrollment in the small group of preschool education is requested.
Display of results after adjustment stage: August 28, 2026.
Documents required for enrollment in kindergarten
In the center of the application file must include the following:
- the application-type of registration, on which the parent or legal representative will fill in the child’s data and mention three options of educational units, in the order of preferences
- copy of the child’s birth certificate
- copy of the identity documents of the parents/legal representative
- employee certificate for each of the parents/legal representative or certificate regarding the period of parental leave and child care, for the type of extended program, respectively for enrollment in pre-school education
- other supporting documents that are subject to the general or specific enrollment criteria and which are analyzed during the enrollment process
Recurring issues from past years
Although the methodology is clear, there have been problems in the field every year. The biggest problem: not enough seats. In 2024, in Popești Leordeni, a locality near Bucharest, people lined up even 12 hours before the start of registration. Similar situations were repeated in other cities in the country. This despite the fact that the Ministry of Education stated even then that the places are not filled according to the order in which the documents are submitted. Every year, the institution came back with messages of this type.
