Primary Education

Primary education is compulsory and lasts eight years. Is carried out in two education cycles: the first from first to fourth grade, organized through the classroom teaching, and the second cycle of fifth to eighth grade through subject teaching.

The implementers of primarily education are primary schools. Primary schools carry out school programs, and may also carry out:

• individual educational plans for students and adults with disabilities,
• individual Serbian- or minority-language programs, for students who do not know the language of instruction,
• school programs of music and ballet education,
• school programs of adult education,
• education programs for students at boarding schools,
• other programs, in accordance with the law.

Primary schools may also carry out preschool programs.

Enrollment of Pupils in Primary School

Every year children between the ages of six and a half and seven and a half (at the beginning of the school year) are enrolled in first grade of primary school. In addition to the documents necessary for enrollment, parents or guardians submit a health examination certificate. Exceptionally, children from socially vulnerable groups may enroll primary school without proof of residence of the parents/guardians and necessary documentation.

Testing of the child enrolled in school is conducted by the school’s psychologist and pedagogues, in the child's mother tongue, using standard procedures and instruments, recommended by the competent institute, or authorized professional organization. If it is not possible for the testing to be conducted in the child's mother tongue, the school will provide a translator, at the recommendation of the national council of given ethnic minority.

The testing of children with motor disabilities and disabilities of the senses is carried out using test forms to which the child can respond optimally. In the process of testing the child enrolled in school, the school may determine the need for the adoption of an individual educational plan or additional support for education. If the additional support requires funding, a formal written request is sent to the doctor at the competent healthcare center for the assessment of the need for providing additional educational, health or social support, which is determine by an interdepartmental committee.

Children may enroll schools for education of students with disabilities based on the recommendations of the selected physician from the competent healthcare center, based on assessed need for providing additional educational, health or social support to the pupil, with the consent of the parents/guardians.

Children ages six to six and a half years old are enrolled in first grade after testing the maturity for staring school. The verification of maturity of the child is performed by the school psychologist, using standard procedures and instruments, recommended by the competent institute, or authorized professional organization. In the process of testing maturity, based on the opinion of the psychologist, the school may recommend:
- enrollment of children in first grade;
- postponing the child staring school for one year, with continued attendance of the preparatory preschool program.

The parent or guardian of a child to whom a one-year postponement for enrollment into the first grade has been recommended, may file a request with a school committee for reassessment of school maturity. The committee consists of the psychologist, pedagogue, teacher and pediatrician. The school committee may approve the enrollment of the child or confirm the one-year postponement of enrolment, using standard procedures and instruments.

If a child older than seven and a half years is not enrolled in first grade, due to illness or other reasons, it may enroll in first grade or appropriate grade based a knowledge test.

Schools are required to enroll every child from the school’s area. A school can enroll the child and the territory of the other schools, at the request of parents, in accordance with the school’s capacities. A parent or guardian can choose which primary school the child will enroll, by submitting an application to the chosen school no later than 1 February of the enrollment year.

Primary school pupils may enroll music or ballet schools, provided that they pass the entrance exam, in accordance with the pertaining law.

The local self-government keeps records and notifies the school and parents or guardians of children who have come of age for enrollment and children who are enrolled in school.

Detailed conditions for assessment of need for the providing of additional educational, health or social support to pupils, the composition and procedures of the interdepartmental committee, are passed jointly by ministers responsible for healthcare and social policy and the Minister of Education.

Enrollment of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons

A foreign citizen and stateless person may enroll school and exercise the right to education, under the same conditions and in the manner prescribed by law for citizens of Serbia. In the case of foreign citizens and stateless persons, as well as exiled and displaced persons, who do not know the language of instruction or some syllabus content significant for continuing education, the school organizes language lessons, or preparatory and additional classes, according special instructions, in line with regulations passed by the Minister.

While residing in the Republic of Serbia, the child and the pupil that is a citizen of a European state, has the right to attend courses of his/her mother tongue and culture, free of charge under the condition of reciprocity, or at the cost of the parent/guardian, at the premises of the institution determined by the local self-government.