Government support

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.

Many private kindergartens sacrifice quality for profit or even for survival. To help them regain parents' confidence, the government needs a system to better manage and support their development, says Zhu Yongxin, vice president of the Chinese Society of Education.

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 for the first time established the universal coverage of preschool education as a national policy," says Han Qinglin, a national education inspector of the Ministry of Education.

It replaces the previous policy of relying mainly on private kindergartens with a new focus on public pre-school education.

"The plan makes a breakthrough in demanding government financing for pre-school education," Han says. Teachers of state-run kindergartens will become staff of government affiliated institutions with decent stable pay.

Local governments have taken action in response to the plan.

Beijing is to invest almost 1.5 billion yuan in building about 200 new kindergartens while capping tuition fees for three years, the Municipal Commission of Education announced last month.

The city has budgeted 200 million yuan to build and expand kindergartens. About 90 million yuan has been spent to add 20,000 places, according to the municipal development and reform commission.

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, 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 municipal education commission has ordered the building of more than 400 new kindergartens in suburban and less developed areas.

Southwest China's Yunnan Province has also launched a project to build or expand 1,000 kindergartens in townships and villages.