China to legislate on pre-school education

BEIJING -- China will push for legislation on pre-school education to a provide legal guarantee for the operation and management of such institutions, Vice Minister of Education Tian Xuejun said Thursday.

Tian made the remarks at a press conference organized by the State Council Information Office, with regards to a child abuse case at RYB Education New World Kindergarten in Beijing that received widespread attention last week.

Tian said the ministry was already doing research on the legislation.

"The ministry will also complete the requirements on qualifications of teachers engaged in pre-school education and is considering formulating a code of ethics for them," Tian said.

He also mentioned a plan to step up supervision of kindergartens and solve the problem of insufficient resources for pre-school education.

A female teacher was detained Saturday on suspicion of child abuse at a Beijing kindergarten, according to local police.

Beijing police said the teacher surnamed Liu, 22, was detained on suspicion of child abuse at the RYB Education New World kindergarten in Chaoyang District.

Police said they had not found evidence the children had been sexually molested.

Tian said the case exposed the conflict between public demand for pre-school enrollment and insufficient development of pre-school education.

"It also showed that some local authorities and kindergartens still have problems of unsound management and failure to implement or fully implement regulations," he said.

Since 2010, the gross enrollment rate for the three years of pre-school education rose to 77.4 percent from 50.9 percent, he added.