Childcare services becoming available in Pudong kindergartens

Pudong's kindergartens are offering daycare services to 2 and 3-year-olds to relieve a shortage in childcare facilities.

By the end of 2022, childcare service will be available in more than half of kindergartens in Pudong, according to Pudong Education Bureau.

Public kindergartens are required to add childcare service as far as they will not impact the normal curriculum, and to include childcare facilities if they are newly built, remodeled or enlarged. Private kindergartens are encouraged to offer affordable childcare service under guide price.

"We hope to offer safe and quality childcare services at the doorstep as well as to provide references to how a big city like Shanghai can implement and improve pre-school education," said Zhang Wei, deputy director of the Bureau.

A survey by the National Health Commission shows that China has nearly 50 million 0-to-3-year-olds, but the enrollment rate in daycare is only 4.1, far lower than the average rate of 50 percent in developed countries.

Even for big cities like Shanghai, it has been a headache. A survey by the Shanghai Women's Federation shows that only 14 out of 100 2-year-olds are admitted to childcare facilities.

Basically, in China, most kindergartens only admit children 3 years of age and older. There is a shortage of quality private childcare facilities due to a lack of policy support and official supervision. The introduction of two-child policy has aggravated the dilemma for working parents.

Over the past few years, Shanghai has been inserting childcare facilities to neighborhoods. Last September, the city government released a three-year plan to improve childcare service with specified approaches, such as embedding the service to public kindergartens.

Pudong has been doing a good job. To date, the new area has a total of 206 licensed childcare facilities, including 101 kindergartens.

Last year Punan Kindergarten started to offer daycare services to 2-and-3-year-olds. It didn't simply "copy" a regular classroom. Instead, it decorated the venue and designed class based on needs of 2-and-3-year-olds.

"We found they are more interested to interactive experiences," said the kindergarten principal Jiang Yaoqin. "It's not good to ask them to sit well. What they need is family-like relaxing environment, and interesting interactive learning experiences."