By three children compete for every two vacant places in the first grade at the most popular lyceums of Chisinau. Admission to specialized schools is based on an aptitude test. In some of the schools, this test was already taken. Compared with last year, the competition is not so stiff because there are fewer applicants this year – about 77,000 children, Nina Butucea, coordinating specialist at the General Division of Education, Youth and Sport, has told Info-Prim Neo. At the lyceums with ordinary classes, priority is given to the children who live not far from the education institution. The most popular lyceums in Chisinau are: “Ion Creanga” (music school), “Dante Alighieri” (where Italian is studied more thoroughly), “Mircea Eliade” (English), and “Mihail Kogalniceanu” (German). Demand exceeds supply also at the high schools “Gheorghe Asachi” (French), “Nicolae Iorga” (arts), and “Miguel de Cervantes” (Spanish). Among the institutions teaching in Russian, the most popular is “A. S. Pushkin” Lyceum. “Prometeu” High School remains a leader by the number of applications submitted to it. “Though there aren’t sufficient places at all the education institutions in Chisinau, competition is less stiff because many children go abroad together with their parents. Over 200 children have gone abroad this year so far,” said Nina Butucea. More than 118,000 children were admitted to the first grade in 2011.