Education in Belgium is regulated and for the most part financed by one of the three communities: Flemish, French and German-speaking. Each community has its own school system, with small differences among them. The federal government plays a very small role: it decides directly the age for mandatory schooling and indirectly the financing of the communities. The schools can be divided in three groups (; ): Schools owned by the communities (GO! Onderwijs van de Vlaamse gemeenschap; Wallonie-Bruxelles Enseignement) Subsidized public schools (officieel gesubsidieerd onderwijs; réseau officiel subventionné), organized by provinces, municipalities or the Brussels French Community Commission Subsidized free schools (vrij gesubsidieerd onderwijs; réseau libre subventionné), mainly organized by an organization affiliated to the Catholic church The latter is the largest group, both in number of schools and in number of pupils. Education in Belgium is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 18 or until one graduates from secondary school. History In the past there were conflicts between state schools and Catholic schools, and disputes regarding whether the latter should be funded by the government (see first and second School Wars). The 1958 School Pact was an agreement by the three large political parties to end these conflicts. The 1981 state reform transferred some matters from the federal Belgian level to the communities. In 1988, the majority of educational matters were transferred. Nowadays, very few general matters are regulated on a national level. The current ministries for education are the Flemish Government, the Government of the French Community and the Government of the German-speaking Community for each community respectively. Brussels, being bilingual French-Dutch, has schools provided by both the Flemish and French-speaking community. Municipalities with language facilities often have schools provided by two communities (Dutch-French or German-French) as well. Stages of education The different stages of education are the same in all communities: Fundamental education (; ), consisting of Preschool education (kleuteronderwijs; enseignement maternel): –6 years Primary school (lager onderwijs; enseignement primaire): 6–12 years Secondary education (secundair onderwijs; enseignement secondaire): 12–18 years Higher education (hoger onderwijs; enseignement supérieur) University (universiteit; université) Polytechnic/Vocational university (hogeschool; haute école) Pre-school Free pre-primary schooling (; ; ) is provided to every child from the age of 2 years 6 months. In most schools the child can start in school as soon as they reach this age, so class size for the youngest children grows during the year. In the Flemish region, start