Voices

Kindergarten craziness means unequal rights

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-10 13:51

It has been reported that about 100 parents waited outside a public kindergarten in the city's Changping district for several days in a bid to get their children enrolled.

My son will be reaching kindergarten age this year and, when I took him to apply for a space at a nearby kindergarten several days ago, I was told some people had waited there since 2 am.

Some parents whose children will go to kindergarten next year have already begun to do research and preparation work. Many parents complained that it is more difficult to get their children enrolled in a public-run kindergarten than it is to get into college.

Our kids are paying the price of unbalanced educational development.

Parents try everything at their disposal to send their children to public kindergartens, which is not because they have a much higher education quality but because the kindergartens have more advantages when it comes to getting public education resources.

Private kindergartens that have little financial and policy support from government have to charge much higher fees, some charge extremely high fees and pass themselves off as elite. Some charge less but have very low educational standards. That is why parents give priority to a public-run kindergarten.

In the wake of the cases in which school children have been attacked, security in schools and kindergartens across the country has been tightened. But most of the security efforts are directed at public schools. In many places, private schools and kindergartens get no protection at all.

Even after waiting for so many days in the queue, parents may still not be able to send their children to the kindergarten they want. Some who have power or money can always be part of the limited quota without having to waiting in the long queue.

So, it is high time to reform the current pre-education system. More policy and financial support should be given to private kindergartens to ensure that all children can enjoy equal opportunities in education.

Excerpts from a comment in Beijing Times, June 9