This year the number of children in Chisinau who went to school for the first time was 6,967, by 360 more than last year, the Municipal Education Department (MED) reported. According to MED, the total number of school-goers in the municipality decreased from last year by 3,262 to 80,325. MED chief Tatianei Nagnibeda-Tverdohleb also reported that the number of pre-school places increased significantly due to higher birth rates in recent years. For this reason, in the 2008/2009 school year there were reopened 39 nursery groups which had been closed over the past 15 years. This year there will be opened 14 nursery groups for young children.