Not all first grade pupils have been enrolled in the nine-year programme. While 17,815 six-year olds entered first grade of primary school this year, there are still an additional 8,250 seven-year olds who entered the primary school under the "old" system. The number of pupils enrolled in the eight-year programme will each year decrease. The old programme will be phased out by the 2008/09 school year, when all primary schools will have switched to the nine-year programme. That school year the generation of seven-year-old first graders will skip the sixth grade to the seventh and thus join their peers on the nine-year programme.

The curricula for all subjects in the nine-year programme have been reformed and the Ministry of Education promises that pupils will be more active in the new programme. The reforms require more repetition and reinforcement of the subject matter during lessons, which means less homework. The programme is divided into triennia, each of which concludes with a national examination of basic knowledge. National examinations at the end of the first and second triennium are voluntary, while the final examination is obligatory. Combined with teachers' marks, the final examination will establish whether the pupils have acquired the knowledge needed to successfully conclude the nine-year primary school programme. A pupil's success in the national examination will be an important factor in the decision whether the pupil will be able to enrol in the secondary school of their choice.

In the first three years of primary school, activities are conducted at a single level and the length of the lesson depends on the needs of the children. During lessons, two teachers are present in the classroom; one of them runs the class for the first three years. Marks are descriptive and the parents will receive them on special forms listing the objectives their children have to attain in individual subjects.

The fourth grade is when pupils begin to learn English and the number of lessons and subjects starts gradually increasing. The teachers will assess their pupils' knowledge by means of descriptive and numerical marks, however using only symbols at the end of the year. In at least one major subject, lessons will be organized at a basic level with all pupils together, as well as others taught at three different levels of proficiency. The differentiation of pupils by skill levels means that lessons are conducted in groups of pupils sharing similar knowledge and abilities. Lessons are therefore tailored more to the needs of individuals rather than using the same pattern for everyone.

Slovenian, mathematics and English lessons in the last two grades (8th and 9th) will no longer be conducted at one basic level, but only at three levels, while pupils will be marked by symbols alone. They will be able to choose among optional subjects divided into two groups: social sciences and the humanities on the one hand, and natural and technical sciences on the other. Every school has to offer at least three subjects from each group of choices. Pupils select three optional subjects each year, but they cannot choose more than two from the same group.