The number of children at kindergartens in towns is over 1.5 times higher than in rural areas. Currently, 250 settlements do not have kindergartens. At district level, Soroca, Falesti, Sangerei, and Orhei are the most disadvantaged districts, Info-Prim Neo reports. Deputy Minister of Education Tatiana Potang said that 40 community centers were set up nationwide within a number of projects and 40 kindergartens are to be rehabilitated in the near future. “Unfortunately, there are settlements that do not have kindergartens. In the villages where there are only 13 children, such an institution cannot be opened,” she stated. The deputy minister also said that it’s impossible to determine the exact number of children who do not attend the kindergarten. There are no instruments that the Education Ministry could use to find out this figure. Only children older than five are within the Ministry’s remit as the obligatory preparation for school starts at the age of five. According to UNICEF, almost half of the children aged between three and six from rural areas attend a preschool institution. There are also groups of children who have limited access to preschool education. These are the Roma children, children from families on low incomes and disabled children. Among the most important factors that hamper the minors’ access to education are the poor infrastructure, the informal payments, the parents’ education level and their attitude to education. Coordinator of programs for early education at UNICEF Larisa Virtosu said that the mother’s education level powerfully influences the child’s involvement in preschool education. The higher the education level of the mothers, the higher is the probability that the children will be enrolled to kindergartens. “The attitude to education is also important. On the one hand, the poor parents and the parents from villages prefer to keep their children at home instead of taking them to kindergarten, especially in the cold period of the year. Thus, the patents save money in the periods when the incomes are low. Other parents consider that the grandparents or other relatives take care of the children better than the educators in kindergartens,” stated Larisa Virtosu. There are 1,400 kindergartens and 40 community centers in Moldova.