City to build 150 kindergartens this year

Shanghai is to build 150 new kindergartens with both nursing and education functions this year and 200 more next year, the city’s education authority said on Monday.

The Shanghai Education Commission said there were currently 917 nursing facilities to serve around 34,000 children under 3 years old.

“We will increase 10,000 seats at nurseries this year and next year to benefit more children under 3,” said Wang Ping, director of the commission, during a radio program.

The government had planned to build 50 new affordable nurseries each year in the past two years, he said, but had built 109.

In the next five years, the city will also set up more parenting guidance centers to enable families to get professional help in taking care of children in areas within 15 minutes’ travel from home.

“We also aim to provide at least 10 times of free parenting guidance services for families in need each year,” said Wang.

As Shanghai builds “five new towns” in the districts of Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang and Fengxian and Nanhui in the Pudong New Area, Wang said authorities will introduce more high-quality education resources in these areas based on their development plans and population changes.

“For example, we will continue to support development of the existing outstanding high schools, such as the Jiading No. 1 High School, Qingpu Senior High School, Songjiang No. 2 High School and Fengxian High School, as well as the Jiading branch of the High School Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Qingpu branch of the High School Affiliated to Fudan University,” he said. 

“We will also build more schools there, such as the Yunjian School Affiliated to Shanghai International Studies University in Songjiang and the Lingang branch of the No. 2 High School of East China Normal University in Nanhui. The Qingpu new town will also build a future-oriented school which will lead the digital transformation of education.”

Wang said the city will ensure each town has at least one higher educational institute and will support their scientific and technological innovation and cooperation with industries.