About 63 000 kids are expected to start school for the first time in Bulgaria on September 15th, 2011, according to Deputy Education Minister Milena Damyanova.

Damyanova's institutions has thus revised an earlier figure announced by Education Minister Sergey Ignatov, who at the end of August said the first-graders were expected to be 61 000.

The new information suggests that about 2 000 kids born in 2004 had not been enrolled by their parents at the time of Ignatov's announcements.

About 10 000 of the 63 000 first-graders starting school on September 15 will be in Sofia, Damyanova said after a meeting with the school principals from Sofia, as cited by BTA. The absolutely precise numbers, however, will be known after September 15.

About 60 000 born in 2003 started school in Bulgaria last year, with the higher 2011 number reflecting the slight increase in the birthrate that the country saw after 2001, with the number of newborn kids peaking at more than 80 000 in 2009.

September 15 is the traditional first school day for about 3 100 primary and secondary schools in Bulgaria.