Govt wants kindergartens in urban residential areas to be affordable

All kindergartens affiliated with urban residential communities should be inexpensive and nonprofit, Minister of Education Chen Baosheng said on Thursday.

China launched a thorough inspection to address problems in kindergartens affiliated with urban residential communities in January, Chen said while delivering a report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

The inspection work has finished and a total of 18,400 such kindergartens need to lower their fees to become affordable, as that would allow 3.7 million more children to access affordable preschool education, he said.

Children studying at affordable kindergartens, including public and private ones, accounted for 73.1 percent of all preschoolers last year, up 5.8 percentage points from 2016, he added.

About 85 percent of preschoolers in China, aged between 3 and 6, will be enrolled in certified kindergartens by 2020, according to a high-level guideline jointly issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council in December.

Meanwhile, children studying at affordable kindergartens will account for 80 percent of all preschoolers by that date, the guideline said.

Governments at all levels are encouraged to establish public kindergartens, in a bid to put about 50 percent of all preschool children in public education by 2020. Communities, villages, State-owned enterprises and public institutions such as universities are also encouraged to establish their own kindergartens, it said.