The positioning of institutions in the territory of Montenegro provides citizens with equal access to education. Preschool education is carried out in preschool institutions, which can be public and private. The network of preschool institutions in Montenegro is composed of 21 public preschool institutions and 30 private preschool institutions. Private preschools exist mainly in larger cities (Podgorica, Budva, Bar, Tivat, Herceg Novi, Kotor, Niksic and Ulcinj).
In the school year 2019/2020, a total of 23,080 children (47% girls and 53% boys) aged 0 to primary education were included in preschool programs, in 170 educational units and 778 groups. In the school year 2015/2016, when the Strategy of Early and Preschool Education 2016-2020 began to be implemented, a total of 16,972 children were included in 123 educational units and 575 educational groups. Based on these data, it can be concluded that during the implementation of the previous Strategy there was a significant increase in the number of children (by 36%), as well as an increase in capacity (the number of educational units increased by 38% and the number of educational groups by 35%) and that the upward trend was uniform over the years.
Equal access to preschool education is granted to every child and it cannot be directly or indirectly limited on grounds of: gender, race, skin colour, language, religion, national, ethnic or other background, developmental difficulty and disability, social background or other personal feature or circumstance (Law on Preschool Education).
Preschool education includes children up to the age of 6, i.e. until entering primary school. Children up to the age of 3 are in nurseries, and those between the ages of 3 and 6 are in kindergartens and organized in age groups. The total coverage of preschool children (0 to 6 years) in Montenegro in the school year 2019/2020 is about 52%. The coverage was significantly lower for children up to 3 years of age attending nursery (about 37%), while the coverage of children aged 3 years before starting primary school, attending kindergartens, was significantly higher (about 77%). In order to provide every child with the best start, i.e. bearing in mind that neurological development in children is most intense in the period of preschool education, we considered it necessary to continue the development of this level of education through the preparation of a new draft Strategy for early and preschool education for the period 2021 - 2025. Children's learning in pre-school education greatly contributes to the overall development of children, in terms of socio-emotional competencies, future school and life performance, personality formation as well as in relation to numerous social benefits, including prevention of undesirable social phenomena, savings in social and health care. Bearing in mind that there is still room in Montenegro for the improvement of preschool education, the strategic goal in the next four years is: Ensuring equal opportunities for early development of all children in Montenegro by strengthening the availability, quality and justice of preschool education.
The Strategy of Inclusive Education (2019-2025) determines further directions for the development of education for children with special educational needs. The Strategy includes principles, theoretical and practical achievements in the direction of developing the potential of children with special educational needs, but also the society itself. The rights-based approach aims to prevent, remove barriers to participation and achievement during schooling for all children. The guiding principle of the Strategy of Inclusive Education is - Promotion, protection, ensuring full and equal participation of all children with special educational needs in inclusive education without discrimination, exclusion and on the basis of equality with others. The vision of the Strategy of The Strategy of Inclusive Education (2019-2025) determines further directions for the development of education for children with special educational needs. The Strategy includes principles, theoretical and practical achievements in the direction of developing the potential of children with special educational needs, but also the society itself. The rights-based approach aims to prevent, remove barriers to participation and achievement during schooling for all children. The guiding principle of the Strategy of Inclusive Education is - Promotion, protection, ensuring full and equal participation of all children with special educational needs in inclusive education without discrimination, exclusion and on the basis of equality with others. The vision of the Strategy of Inclusive Education is to provide children with special educational needs with accessible, affordable quality inclusive education at all levels.
The goal is operationalized through 3 tasks:
Task 1: Ensure and implement accessibility and equity of education for all children;
Task 2: Ensure and implement continuity of inclusive education from the moment of disability / developmental discovery to full and effective participation in society;
Task 3: To support and promote the quality of inclusive education.
During the first two years of implementation, the key activities defined by the Strategy of Inclusive Education during 2019, were placed on early and continuous support to children. Immediate work was based on their needs, possibilities and is individually conceived. For that purpose of strengthening competencies, targeted, specialized training was conducted. During 2020, the dynamics of trainings were under the influence of the pandemic caused by the COVID 19 virus. Accordingly, special emphasis was placed on adequate support for teachers and children. The work was based on the needs of children, possibilities and was individually conceived. For this purpose, adaptation was carried out by individualization, promotion, training and practical management of staff with the constant support of specialized, better organized and more accessible professionals.
Staff training was carried out, as well as coaching of work in the RE community and kindergartens. The teams were formed and responsibilities were defined. The Final check list was conceived monitoring the work and development of RE children, field activities with the aim of educational informing parents in terms of emotional desensitization, explanation of measures, hygienic procedures. The prepared material were used for the beginning of the school year. The first assessment of the children was conducted, the priorities were set and a plan for 2021 was developed.
Children without parental care who have been placed in a social care institution are also integrated into regular peer activities.
In order to provide accessible, high-quality, comprehensive, culturally-tailored, inclusive services for all children in Montenegro, from their birth until entering primary school, with special emphasis on the most vulnerable children, nearly 80% of total costs of preschool education are provided by the state, whereas the rest is provided from fees paid by parents. Parents are obliged to pay an average of 40 EUR for all-day program, and 20 EUR for half-day program.
A single parent pays 50% of the cost of their child’s stay and meals in an institution, whereas the stay of a child without parental care, a child whose parents are beneficiaries of material family support and child from the most vulnerable groups, are covered by a centre for social services on the territory where the child or the parent resides.
UNICEF and the former Ministry of Education launched a public campaign "Everybody in kindergarten" to promote early childhood education in five municipalities in the north of the country with the lowest enrollment rate. The campaign "I will shine in kindergarten", "Every falcon in kindergarten" was implemented in order to raise the awareness of the citizens about the importance of pre-school education. Particularly it works with children living in remote, rural and hard-to-reach areas in a way that educators work with children and children in the local area through interactive services. Interactive services, established in 17 municipalities, have proven to be a good tool to make preschool education accessible to children from remote settlements who are less involved in PE. An important advantage of interactive services is their flexibility, i.e. capacity to adapt to the specifics of children, families and the conditions in which they live. In addition, in some cases, interactive services have been transformed into new educational units, thus contributing to the expansion of the network of educational units.