Financing for equity in pre-primary education
1. Education resources to subnational governments
2. Education resources to institutions
3. Education resources to students and families
4. Social policies and family support programmes
Introduction
Key financing indicators (UIS Data)
In Albania, the official entry age for pre-primary education is 3 years old. While not compulsory, 3 years of free pre-primary education have been granted. Between 2003 and 2024, the net enrolment rate for pre-primary education constantly increased, starting at 50.96 % and rising to around 92.56%
Governance
The pre-school education is governed and financed through a decentralised arrangement. Local self-government units, or municipalities, have administrative responsibility for pre-school education or kindergartens for ages 3 to 6, and share functions with the Ministry of Education and Sports (MES). Municipalities finance a range of operational and administrative costs using public funds (including unconditional transfer grants from the state budget, as well as local budget resources). These include expenses for non-teaching staff in pre-school institutions (both nurseries and kindergartens), ongoing operational and service costs, and capital investments such as buildings and equipment. However, for public pre-school institutions, salaries for teaching staff are covered by the central state budget and managed through a centralised process.
1. Education resources to subnational governments
In Albania, teacher salaries for public preschools are financed by the central government through a block grant transferred to local governments. This grant is allocated according to a formula that considers 40% of the number of teachers employed and 60% of the number of enrolled pupils.
The preschool education budget at the municipal level consists of both unconditional and sectoral transfers from the state, as well as their own local budget. The decentralisation of preschool education to local governments in 2016 which established a specific transfer to municipalities to fund preschool functions during a three-year transition period (2016-2019). Under this arrangement, the allocation of funds continued to follow the previous scheme, in which the number of teachers served as the main distribution criterion.
Since 2019, the specific transfer to municipalities has been replaced by Unconditional Sectoral Transfers for preschool education. While these transfers are earmarked for the education sector, municipalities have full discretion over their use within preschool services, allowing them to allocate funds according to local needs, including teacher and support staff salaries and infrastructure maintenance. However, no explicit equity considerations are incorporated into the allocation formula, which is primarily based on quantitative indicators such as the number of teachers and pupils rather than on measures of socio-economic disadvantage or regional disparities.
2. Education resources to institutions
No evidence was found of government subsidies being allocated directly to public pre-primary institutions.
3. Education resources to students and families
No evidence was found of any targeted financial aid or subsidies to support pre-primary education for parents. Public kindergartens are free of charge for half-day programmes, while full-day public kindergartens require payment of meals and some additional costs. In some cases, fee waivers or free access to services are provided for vulnerable or low-income groups, but these decisions are made by local municipalities and do not constitute a universal policy at the national level.
4. Social policies and family support programmes
The main social programme supporting equitable access to pre-primary education is the Economic Assistance Programme (Ndihma Ekonomike). This programme is led by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and local municipalities. Through this programme, families in need with no or insufficient income, orphans outside residential care, parents with multiple children born at the same time, victims of trafficking, domestic violence under a protection order, and other vulnerable groups are selected via a proxy means test or municipal discretion and receive both monthly cash benefits and various in-kind supports. The programme guarantees access to free nurseries and kindergartens for recipient children, explicitly removing cost barriers for these families.
