Majority support opening more public institution kindergartens: survey

Updated: 2016-03-30 09:51

(ECNS)

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China's two-child policy will pose great pressure on nursery school education, according to a recent survey that showed 72.7 percent of respondents support an initiative for enterprises and public institutions to open their own kindergartens, China Youth News reports.

The Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily surveyed 2,002 people through www.wenjuan.com, finding that 84.6 percent of respondents face difficulties in child care and high enrollment fees.

Almost three-fourths of those surveyed think enterprises and public institutions should establish quality daycare centers.

Yuan Guiren, Minister of Education in China, said earlier that 3 million additional children are expected to be born each year following adoption of the two-child policy while 9 million are expected to enroll in kindergartens three years later, resulting in increased pressure on preschool education.

Yuan stressed the importance of developing public kindergartens and proposed that enterprises and institutes set up their own.

An expectant mother surnamed Feng, a resident of Beijing's Chaoyang district, began to focus on information about kindergarten enrollment during her early pregnancy. But now she is still worried and hopes her place of employment is capable of opening up a nursery school nearby.

"In this case, it would be convenient for us to send and pick up our kids thanks to the shorter distance between workplace and kindergarten," Feng explained.

Cai Sen, a nursery school teacher at a public kindergarten in Hebei province, said that even children who meet requirements for admission sometimes have difficulty in enrollment because of limited available places.

The survey also showed that 67.3 percent of respondents view faculty and facility deficiencies as the biggest problem for enterprises and public institutes to set up nurseries.

"As fees for private kindergartens are expensive, we hope our children could enroll in public kindergartens if they provide higher education quality with a better environment, facilities and management standards," Cai added.

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