How to send a child to kindergarten

Queue for kindergarten in cities moves slowly and sometimes you can reach your turn in several years just in time when a child is ready to go to kindergarten. That is why it is recommended to put a child into a waiting list to kindergarten after registration of birth.

The public service of placing pre-school children on a waiting list for a place in a pre-school organisation is automated and operates on a 24/7 basis and carries out a continuous process of distributing available places to applicants as new places become available.

You can put a child into a waiting list to kindergarten using one of the options:

• via online service on gov.kz Portal;
• visiting PSC (“Government for Citizens” Public Corporation) with the required documents;
• via portals, links to which are published on the websites of education departments of akimats of cities and districts (for example, indigo24.kz, snation.kz, balabaqsha.open-almaty.kz, etc.).

To submit an application online, you need to open a separate service:

In application you need to indicate a child`s IIN, select a desired kindergarten and sign it with digital signature. When your turn will come, you will receive a notification with referral to a selected kindergarten.

The same principle is also applied to services delivered by akimats.

If you decided to apply via PSC, you need to submit the following documents:

• childbirth certificate;
• national ID of one of the parents;
• one of the documents (if applicable) to obtain a benefit that enable to obtain a priority or unscheduled place in kindergarten:
  • statement of employment issued to a military man or to an employee of a specialized government agency, affixed with the seal and signature of an authorized individual (if available) (valid within 1 month from the date of issuance);
  • a certificate from the teacher's workplace, signed and stamped by the head of the educational organisation (valid for one month from the date of issue), a scanned copy of the diploma;
  • statement drawn up by a psychological/medical and pedagogical committee for children with special educational needs;
  • statement from a phthisiatrician;
  • document certifying a priority right to get to a pre-school organization.

It is possible to enroll to a kindergarten not only during the summer period when groups are formed but also within a year.

To be enrolled to a kindergarten, you need to visit it with a following documents:

1. Referral for enrollment (valid within 5 working days from the date of issuance).
2. National ID of one of the parents or legal representatives.
3. Childbirth certificate.
4. A child`s health passport.
5. Abstract on a child`s health condition.
6. Statement drawn up by a psychological/medical and pedagogical committee (for children with special educational needs).

The list of documents is complete for all types of pre-school organizations. It means that neither a national nor public kindergarten has a right to require any more documents upon a child`s enrollment.

Queue to kindergarten can be tracked online:

• via online service on gov.kz Portal;
• via eGov Mobile app;
• via services, links to which are published on the websites of education departments of akimats of cities and districts.

How a queue to pre-school organizations is distributed?  

There is a general waiting list for enrolment in preschool organizations, which is formed according to the locality (town, village, municipality) in which the children are born and for each year of birth separately.

A waiting list for special preschool organizations is formed within the locality to a preschool organization for the year of birth of the child, separately for each year of birth.

A waiting list for a special preschool organization is formed within the municipalities in respect of the year of birth of the children separately for each year of birth.

Applications are placed in the waiting lists according to the date and time of submission of the application by the applicant.

If you raise a child with special educational needs, you may put the child on several waiting lists simultaneously - the general waiting list, the special preschool, the sanatorium preschool.

A child younger than 6 years old as at 1st September of the current school year in order to apply and be on the waiting list (except for children with special educational needs who have the corresponding opinion of the psychological, medical and pedagogical commission and children who are younger than 6 years old as at 1st September of the current school year).

When your turn comes up, you choose an appropriate kindergarten from among those that have places available.

Individuals with a right to get an unscheduled place are children of military men or to an employees of a specialized government agency;

Individuals with a priority right are children of teachers, children from large families, children of disabled parents, children without parental custody, orphans and children with special needs.

Applications for an extraordinary place come before applications for a priority place.

Applications are sorted by the date of application submission. A queue is started with those with a right for an unscheduled place, then come individuals with a priority right, then 3 applications without any benefits and once again those with a right for an unscheduled place, then come individuals with a priority right, then 3 applications without any benefits, etc.  

A queue might not only progress forward but also backwards, i.e. if those with benefits are added to a queue, it moves backwards.  

How vacant places are distributed

Automated queue management system:

• Operates 24 hours a day and carries out a continuous process of distributing available places to applicants as new places become available;
• Registers (or refuses to register) applications for admission to the waiting list;
• Receives daily information from pre-schools on the availability of places, indicating the age group;
• Every day at 6:00 p.m., publishes a bulletin of available places on a special website;
• every morning at 07:00 a.m. (time can be changed by the local authority) opens up access to the first applicants only (all at the same time) for a limited period of 3 working days;
• after 3 days, if there are vacant places, opens access to the remaining vacant places for the next 1,000 applicants in the queue.

To send a child to kindergarten you need a referral. After your turn came, you will be able to select a kindergarten via online service and if there are vacant places in the desired kindergarten, you will receive a referral.

Referral validity term is 5 working days. If within 5 days, a referral won`t be registered in a kindergarten`s electronic system, it is deemed to be expired. In this case, a referral will be canceled and moved to a stop-list for 10 days. Being moved to a stop-list, you won`t be able to participate in distribution of vacant places.