The Early Childhood and Education Care (ECEC) cycle is non mandatory and the structures taking care of children aged 0 to 6 are either the Nido d’infanzia for children up to 3 years of age or the Asilo d’infanzia for children up to 6 years of age.
The ECEC cycle is administered by the local Region, and the Asilo are either public or private; public ones are managed by the local Comune.
According to a nationwide survey, Italy is lacking of Asilo nido to support the increasing demand, in fact only 22% of the applicants can access public Asilo nido.
Asilo nido application
3 months old children can apply for the Asilo nido enrolment, and this can be either done in public or private schools. Private schools admissions are very straightforward as you basically need to pay the monthly fee and you can enrol your child, on the other hand public structures have a waiting list to be put on.
In order to be admitted to the public Asilos you must apply before April 15th of each year, and you need to have your ISEE done. The local Comune will then rank the applicants based on their income level to fill all the spots available, therefore low income families and families supported by Social Services have the priority to access the Asilo nido.
In any case, the application must include:
- Parents codice fiscale;
- Child personal details;
- Vaccines certificate;
- Disability certificate if applicable.
Certain Comune, especially those in low natality areas, may waive the application fee.
Asilo application
Asilo or scuole dell’infanzia are the higher education in the ECEC cycle; this type of school is non mandatory, and it is either provided by public or private institutions.
Public institutions are free of charge, whilst private ones require the pupil to pay a fee.
In any case, families are required to pay for the transportation, meals, and pre/post school services.
Children of three years of age by December 31st of each year can enroll at the Asilo. Each child is placed in a class of at least 18 children up to 26, the number is reduced to 20 in case one of the children has special needs.
The weekly hours at the Asilo are normally 40, which can be extended to 50 under certain circumstances; parents can also opt for a part time solution of 25 hours per week.
