In line with the grant agreement between UNICEF and Geostat which was concluded on 4 December 2012, Geostat carried out a project entitled ‘Data Collection for Early Learning and Child Protection In Georgia’ during the period 4 December 2012 to 7 June 2013.

 The following project activities were accomplished by Geostat:

• The list of early learning indicators was determined and a pilot questionnaire was designed.

• A pilot survey was carried out.

• A final questionnaire with relevant instructions was prepared.

• The list of public preschool institutions was updated.

• Survey fieldwork was conducted, with subsequent data entry and data processing, database cleaning and analysis.

• The final analytical report was prepared.

 The fieldwork covered 1,259 public preschool institutions (kindergartens) in Georgia. The number of kindergartens across regions is set out in the table below.

 Note: One kindergarten in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti was closed in July 2012 for renovation work.

During the period 2011/2012, a total of 15 kindergartens were not open. These were as follows: one in each of the three regions (Adjara, Mtskheta-Mtianeti and Shida Kartli); two in each of the Imereti and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti regions; three in Guria, and five in Kakheti. Thus, data for the academic year 2011/2012 are available for 1,244 kindergartens.