School enrolment in Pleiku: dates, ages, how to register

Starting kindergarten, Grade 1 or Grade 6? You probably want three answers: when to register, whether you do it on your phone or at the school, and which schools are left in your ward after the mergers. This page follows that order, using the province’s latest plan.

Starting a new level: the 2026-2027 enrolment timetable

Registration for kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 6 ran from 1 to 10 June 2026. Kindergarten has no fixed window: schools are asked to make it easy to bring in every child.

Local tip: Grade 1 starts a week earlier than the rest of the province, so a Grade 1 family should not plan around 31 August.

Next year’s dates are not out yet, but this year’s rhythm gives you a frame: the plan was signed in late February 2026, then came registration, selection and results in June. If the province repeats that, start checking the Gia Lai provincial website from early 2027. The one firm date is the deadline: first-year enrolment must be finished before 31 July 2027.

How to register

Selection works by assessment, and registration is online. You register in person at the school only if you cannot do it online. Kindergartens and primary schools take every child of the right age living in their catchment area, and lower secondary schools take every pupil who finished primary school in theirs. The plan asks schools to use residence data and the online system so parents travel less.

The application form is printed from the enrolment software, and pupil details are synced through the national ID code on the VNeID app; the Báo Gia Lai article has more on this. Which documents you need is set by the head of the provincial education department, so ask the school where you are registering for the exact list.

On the first day of registration in Pleiku in 2024-2025, a rush of logins slowed the system down, and parents needed a level 2 VNeID account to confirm residence on the phone. Rules change from year to year, so we recommend activating level 2 VNeID before registration opens and having both parents’ and the child’s details ready.

If you have just moved here, sort out your residence papers first with the guides to registering residence in Pleiku and renting a home in Pleiku.

Changing schools mid-year because your family moved

If you move to Pleiku while your child is already at school, you don’t wait for an enrolment round: primary, lower and upper secondary pupils who change residence with a parent can transfer. Send the transfer request to the school your child is moving to, through the public service portal (or in person, online or by post if the portal is down). The file is the request plus a summary of your child’s conduct and study results. The new school replies within five working days for a move inside the province, or eight from another province, and the old school returns the records within three working days after you apply to it. Kindergartens are not covered, so ask the one you want whether it has a place.

What age does your child start?

Grade 1 starts at six years old, counted by calendar year, and Grade 6 at 11; the rules have applied since 10 May 2026. Children with disabilities, from especially disadvantaged areas, from ethnic minorities, orphans and a few other groups may start up to three years later. Beyond that, the chair of the commune or ward people’s committee decides, on the school’s recommendation.

For kindergarten, independent private centres put children from three to 36 months in nursery groups and from three to six years old in kindergarten classes. Public kindergartens may group children differently, so ask the school. Gia Lai also has 15 kindergartens piloting the new national programme; ask whether your child’s is one.

Familiar school names may have changed

The school someone recommended may no longer exist under that name, because many were renamed or merged. Pleiku ward alone went from 11 public schools to five. The table doesn’t show catchment areas, so ask your ward office which school covers your address.

For Hội Phú, Thống Nhất and Biển Hồ and Gào communes, ask the ward or commune office directly; the addresses are in the guide to Pleiku wards after the merger.

School fees: public or private

From the 2025-2026 school year, kindergarten and general-school pupils at public schools pay no tuition. At private and people-founded schools the state covers part of the fees. In the urban wards of Pleiku, Hội Phú, Thống Nhất, Diên Hồng and An Phú, the support for private kindergarten and primary pupils is 300,000 VND per child per month. That may not be the whole fee, so ask a private school what it charges and whether the support still applies in your child’s year. Independent kindergarten groups may agree fees with parents directly. Meals and other charges are separate.

More practical guides are in Living in Pleiku. If a child falls ill, the guide to hospitals in Pleiku lists where to go and the opening hours.