Nearly 2500 applications for kindergarten enrolment were submitted in Bulgaria’s second largest city of Varna only on January 7 2008.

This was the first day of the enrolment campaign, which would last until May 2008, Dnevnik daily said.

Varna mayor Kiril Iordanov said that only 400 applications would not be met, but the real number of children, who would not be accepted in the municipal kindergartens, was actually lower.

The reduction would result from duplicate applications, as a number of parents applied for more than one kindergarten, he said.

In 2007, 240 children could not be enrolled in kindergartens. According to the Varna municipality, in 2008 that number would remain unchanged.

An additional 240 places in kindergartens would be opened in Varna by the end of 2008, Iordanov said.

Varna municipality said that the ranking for kindergartens would be made electronically. Children of disabled people, students or those whose siblings were enrolled in the same kindergarten would have an advantage in the ranking before children of unemployed parents.