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Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Desperately short of state-run preschools
By Yang Dingdu, Liu Yuanxu and Wang Sihai |
July 8, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A QUEUE of 140 people, with tents, camp beds and benches, has been waiting round-the-clock on Beijing's Xihuan Road for more than a week.
They are not die-hard fans trying to get show tickets. They are parents and grandparents queuing for their children's admission to the state-run Changping District Industry Kindergarten.
"Despite days of waiting, only half of the children will be admitted," says Li Xiaohua, echoing the frustration of millions of Chinese parents struggling to find a kindergarten for their children.
A man surnamed Liu is waiting anxiously at the gate of state-run Maliandao Kindergarten in Beijing's Xuanwu District. His child will have to compete with more than 600 others for the kindergarten's 130 places.
In a queue outside the No. 13 Kindergarten in Nankai District, Tianjin, young mother Li Yuxia has begun trying to book a kindergarten place for her 2-year-old daughter, Qing Qing - so far without success.
"How's this possible? I'm booking more than two years in advance and they still say there is no place."
More than 500 children applied for the No. 1 Kindergarten of Nankai District this year, but only 90 were admitted.
Each of the six urban districts of Tianjin has only 20 to 30 state-run kindergartens, far from enough to meet demand, says an official surnamed Ling with the Nankai District's education bureau.
In Beijing, the number of kindergartens has dropped from 3,056 in 1996 to the current 1,266, according to the Municipal Commission of Education. The city, with a population of more than 17 million, has only 383 quality kindergartens.
The problem goes back to 2000, when the government reformed pre-school education, requiring many kindergartens to become commercial businesses.
The number of kindergartens run by state-owned enterprises and government organs has dropped from 16,000 in 2000 to just 5,000 in 2007.
In addition, children born in 2007, a particularly auspicious year in the Chinese calendar, and 2008, year of the Beijing Olympics, are reaching kindergarten age. Birth rates in the two years spiked in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities in China.
Tuition at a state-run kindergarten in Beijing generally costs 10,000 yuan (US$1,475) a year, but it is actually only a part of the true expense.
State-run kindergartens usually require a "research donation" of another 10,000 yuan a year, and parents must sign a statement saying the donation was voluntary, says one Beijing parent, "so a kindergarten actually charges about 20,000 yuan a year."
In Tianjin's Nankai District, tuition fees are about 1,700 yuan a month, while the city's per capita monthly disposable income is 1,786 yuan.
"For young parents with low incomes and mortgages, the fees are a stressful burden," says Liu Wenfeng, head of a state-run kindergarten.
The number of private kindergartens is small and many come from the two extremes - expensive premium or cheap low-quality kindergartens.
"Private kindergartens are not financed by the government and depend on the tuition fees to survive. Most parents cannot afford premium private kindergartens and they worry about the quality of the cheap ones," says Cao Hua, head of Ozkids private kindergarten in Tianjin.
A teacher surnamed Guo says Baston Bilingual Kindergarten in Beijing charges about 7,000 yuan per month, not including fees for "interest classes" such as skating, dancing and fine arts.
In rural areas of Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, and other cities, migrant workers and needy families are sending their children to poor quality or unlicensed, illegal kindergartens.
China's cities are growing rapidly, but the number of state-run kindergartens, which are preferred by most parents, is decreasing.
"The government has ignored the social welfare nature of pre-school education. It has left too much to the market," says Feng Xiaoxia, president of the Chinese Research Society of Pre-school Education.
Funding of pre-school education is inadequate, accounting for only 1.92 percent of Beijing's overall education budget in 2007, compared with 2.05 percent in 2000. The proportion is just 1.3 percent nationwide.
"Only 29 of the 40 staff of our kindergarten are paid by the government. We had to raise the fees to cover the other salaries and maintenance costs," says state-run kindergarten head Liu Wenfeng.
In a national plan to reform and develop education from 2010 to 2020, passed on May 5, the government pledged to realize universal coverage of a year of pre-school education across the country, two years in most areas and three years in some better-off areas.
The plan replaces the previous policy of relying mainly on private kindergartens with a new focus on public pre-school education.
Beijing is to invest almost 1.5 billion yuan in building about 200 new kindergartens while capping tuition fees for three years.
Tianjin is planning to build 25 new kindergartens in 2010. It expects this year's preschool education coverage rate of children aged from 3 to 6 to reach 94 percent.
Dalian, a coastal city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, has ordered developers to build kindergartens as part of real estate projects. The kindergartens are to be handed over to the government after completion, and the policy is expected to double the number of state-run kindergartens by the end of 2010, according to the city government.
Shanghai has ordered the building of more than 400 new kindergartens in suburban and less developed areas.
(The authors are Xinhua writers.)
They are not die-hard fans trying to get show tickets. They are parents and grandparents queuing for their children's admission to the state-run Changping District Industry Kindergarten.
"Despite days of waiting, only half of the children will be admitted," says Li Xiaohua, echoing the frustration of millions of Chinese parents struggling to find a kindergarten for their children.
A man surnamed Liu is waiting anxiously at the gate of state-run Maliandao Kindergarten in Beijing's Xuanwu District. His child will have to compete with more than 600 others for the kindergarten's 130 places.
In a queue outside the No. 13 Kindergarten in Nankai District, Tianjin, young mother Li Yuxia has begun trying to book a kindergarten place for her 2-year-old daughter, Qing Qing - so far without success.
"How's this possible? I'm booking more than two years in advance and they still say there is no place."
More than 500 children applied for the No. 1 Kindergarten of Nankai District this year, but only 90 were admitted.
Each of the six urban districts of Tianjin has only 20 to 30 state-run kindergartens, far from enough to meet demand, says an official surnamed Ling with the Nankai District's education bureau.
In Beijing, the number of kindergartens has dropped from 3,056 in 1996 to the current 1,266, according to the Municipal Commission of Education. The city, with a population of more than 17 million, has only 383 quality kindergartens.
The problem goes back to 2000, when the government reformed pre-school education, requiring many kindergartens to become commercial businesses.
The number of kindergartens run by state-owned enterprises and government organs has dropped from 16,000 in 2000 to just 5,000 in 2007.
In addition, children born in 2007, a particularly auspicious year in the Chinese calendar, and 2008, year of the Beijing Olympics, are reaching kindergarten age. Birth rates in the two years spiked in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities in China.
Tuition at a state-run kindergarten in Beijing generally costs 10,000 yuan (US$1,475) a year, but it is actually only a part of the true expense.
State-run kindergartens usually require a "research donation" of another 10,000 yuan a year, and parents must sign a statement saying the donation was voluntary, says one Beijing parent, "so a kindergarten actually charges about 20,000 yuan a year."
In Tianjin's Nankai District, tuition fees are about 1,700 yuan a month, while the city's per capita monthly disposable income is 1,786 yuan.
"For young parents with low incomes and mortgages, the fees are a stressful burden," says Liu Wenfeng, head of a state-run kindergarten.
The number of private kindergartens is small and many come from the two extremes - expensive premium or cheap low-quality kindergartens.
"Private kindergartens are not financed by the government and depend on the tuition fees to survive. Most parents cannot afford premium private kindergartens and they worry about the quality of the cheap ones," says Cao Hua, head of Ozkids private kindergarten in Tianjin.
A teacher surnamed Guo says Baston Bilingual Kindergarten in Beijing charges about 7,000 yuan per month, not including fees for "interest classes" such as skating, dancing and fine arts.
In rural areas of Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, and other cities, migrant workers and needy families are sending their children to poor quality or unlicensed, illegal kindergartens.
China's cities are growing rapidly, but the number of state-run kindergartens, which are preferred by most parents, is decreasing.
"The government has ignored the social welfare nature of pre-school education. It has left too much to the market," says Feng Xiaoxia, president of the Chinese Research Society of Pre-school Education.
Funding of pre-school education is inadequate, accounting for only 1.92 percent of Beijing's overall education budget in 2007, compared with 2.05 percent in 2000. The proportion is just 1.3 percent nationwide.
"Only 29 of the 40 staff of our kindergarten are paid by the government. We had to raise the fees to cover the other salaries and maintenance costs," says state-run kindergarten head Liu Wenfeng.
In a national plan to reform and develop education from 2010 to 2020, passed on May 5, the government pledged to realize universal coverage of a year of pre-school education across the country, two years in most areas and three years in some better-off areas.
The plan replaces the previous policy of relying mainly on private kindergartens with a new focus on public pre-school education.
Beijing is to invest almost 1.5 billion yuan in building about 200 new kindergartens while capping tuition fees for three years.
Tianjin is planning to build 25 new kindergartens in 2010. It expects this year's preschool education coverage rate of children aged from 3 to 6 to reach 94 percent.
Dalian, a coastal city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, has ordered developers to build kindergartens as part of real estate projects. The kindergartens are to be handed over to the government after completion, and the policy is expected to double the number of state-run kindergartens by the end of 2010, according to the city government.
Shanghai has ordered the building of more than 400 new kindergartens in suburban and less developed areas.
(The authors are Xinhua writers.)
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