Pre-school education is provided in pre-schools and nurseries to children aged 0–3 years old and in kindergartens to children aged 3–6 years old). Pre-school education is offered in full-day, half-day or three hour educational programmes. Parents have the right to chose whether and in what type of pre-school education their children will enroll. Preschool education serves children up to 6 years of age (i.e. until they enroll in school). Nurseries serve children up to 3 years of age (36 months), and children aged 3 to 6 are served through kindergartens, divided into groups according to age. Montenegro has 21 public preschool institutions and 13 private preschool institutions.

Nurseries are preschool institutions for children up to 3 years of age. They usually include children from 1 to 3 years of age. According to the Law on Preschool Education, day nurseries include two age groups, although some educational units divide children in three groups. 

Enrolment in preschools is theoretically offered to all children of preschool age. Parents participate through paying for food costs at an amount of 1.80 euros a day, or on average 36  euros per month. The children whose parents are beneficiaries of Family Cash Benefits pay only half of the expected amount.

The process of reforming and setting up a multi-sectoral network of professional assistance and support for children with developmental delays and disabilities in collaboration with their parents and guardians has started at the local, regional and national levels. The network of services is envisaged as follows: the first information on a child’s developmental delays and disabilities is usually received from parents or healthcare institutions, which then refer the parents and child to the Centre for Children with Special Needs (located within primary healthcare centres) and the Support Service to Children with Developmental Disabilities (within the Centre for Social Work of the municipality in which the child resides). Professionals at the Centre for Children with Special Needs are specialists for early detection, intervention and rehabilitation. The data regarding the developmental status of the child is sent to the Commission for Orientation, and with the close cooperation of the parents and guardians, it recommends to the parents the best preschool institution for the child.