e other two types.

Half day kindergartens accepted children after six years of age,
preparing them for admission to elementary schools. All day
kindergartens, which were located in large towns and industrial areas,
cared for children, aged three to seven, of working mothers. Seasonal
kindergartens were established in rural areas for the children of
mothers whose work was seasonal. These schools operated from two to ten
months per year and also accepted children from three to seven years of
age.

In mid-1973 there were creches for children from infancy to three years
of age. Children from three to seven attended kindergarten. Although
attendance was voluntary, it was believed that over 60 percent of the
preschool-age children were enrolled in creches or kindergartens.
Approximately 50 percent of the children in elementary school have had
their preschool education in the half day kindergartens. There were five
types of kindergartens in Bulgaria: the half day, the all day, the
seasonal, the kindergarten sanatoriums and the auxiliary kindergarten.
Kindergarten sanatoriums provided educational facilities for children
with tuberculosis, and auxiliary kindergartens were for the mentally
deficient.

Elementary Education

Before the Communists took power, there were primary schools for
children between seven and eleven and _progymnasia_ for children eleven
to fourteen years old. Although both levels of education were compulsory
according to the law, many children between the ages of seven and
fourteen did not attend school. The program of the _progymnasium_ was to
enable children--who might be excluded from either a gymnasium or
vocational school for economic or academic reasons--to obtain additional
education beyond the primary level.

After 1944 the Communists undertook a major revision of elementary
education in accordance with their basic principles of education (see
Communist Educational Policies, this ch.). In 1950 a new unified school
system was established, patterned after the educational system of the
Soviet Union. This unified, eleven-year system comprised both primary
and postprimary education. In 1954 the Edict on Public Education stated
that the first eight years of this new general education were compulsory
for children from seven to fifteen years of age. Depending on the
particular needs of the individual community, children could attend
either four-year, seven-year, or eleven-year general education schoo