Many parents failed to secure kindergarten places on time

A law change that took effect last autumn requires municipalities to offer kindergarten places two months before a parent returns to work, but some families did not receive places within the required timeframe. The city has promised that from autumn, places will be allocated automatically, and such problems should disappear.

Estonia's law requiring local municipalities to guarantee a kindergarten place to families at least two months before a parent's planned return to work took effect last autumn. However, it has emerged that some families did not receive their desired places within the required timeframe and had to wait longer than the law stipulates.

The problem affected parents who had relied on the deadline prescribed by the law but found out that suitable places could not be offered to them in time. This put many families in a difficult situation, requiring them to find alternative solutions for childcare.

The city is aware of the situation and has promised to introduce a new system from autumn that will allocate kindergarten places automatically. The aim of this change is to ensure that every family receives their place offer on time without additional bureaucratic obstacles.

Once the automatic system is operational, parents will no longer need to worry about whether their application was processed on schedule. According to the municipality, this will significantly reduce the risk that any family will miss the deadline set by law.