Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client, August 21 (Wei Wei, intern Zhao Sihan) With the liberalization of the three-child policy, "who will bring the children" has become a problem for many families, especially infants under 3 years old Take care of the problem.
Assuming that a family has three children, the child can only be sent to the kindergarten after the age of 3, which means that the family has to spend 9 years to take care of the three children.
This seems to be a simple math problem, but it also makes many working parents frown.
Good news is coming, the "three-child" supporting measures are coming soon.
On August 20, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress voted to pass a decision on amending the Population and Family Planning Law of the People's Republic of China.
A new article was added to “promote the establishment of a universal childcare service system to improve the accessibility and fairness of services for infants and young children. The state encourages and guides social forces to set up childcare institutions, and supports kindergartens, government agencies, enterprises, institutions, and communities to provide services. Childcare services."
Salary is not as good as nursery school tuition
"We can finally send our children to kindergarten in September this year," said Zhang Lu (pseudonym), who lives in Tianjin, relieved.
Zhang Lu is the mother of a three-year-old child. Soon after pregnancy, due to physical problems, she quit her job to raise a baby at home. After the child was born, her mother-in-law was unwell and her parents were still working. Decided to be a full-time mother.
In the past three years, Zhang Lu thought about going back to work countless times.
Before giving birth, she worked as an administrative job in a real estate company. The child was about 2 years old. She plucked up the courage to submit a resume online, and soon a company offered her an olive branch.
But the child's care has become a problem again.
Source: Photo by Zhao Sihan, an intern from Sino-Singapore Jingwei
To this end, she took her children to participate in a trial class in a private daycare class.
"The experience is good, the environment is good, and it feels similar to a kindergarten, but the monthly child care fee of about 6,000 yuan is too expensive. The salary I earn from work is not enough to pay the tuition." Zhang Lu was scared off by the price.
After thinking about it again and again, Zhang Lu gave up her plan to return to the workplace.
Now that the child is three years old and will be going to kindergarten in September, she has submitted a resume online again, planning to go to work immediately after the child goes to kindergarten.
The child of Mei Shanshan (pseudonym) who lives in Beijing is under two years old. As a working mother, she dare not resign easily.
After the breastfeeding leave is over, after the whole family has discussed, it is finally decided that the elderly of both parties will take turns to take care of the children.
"My hometown is in Hunan. Once, when it was my mother's turn to come over, she complained to me that she was not suitable for living in Beijing. At that time, I thought that if she didn't come, she could only send the child to the nursery school." Mei Shanshan Sigh helplessly.
So she took her children to find a childcare institution near her home.
It was on the second floor of a residential area. There was no elevator. She could only carry a stroller and her baby upstairs.
"I participated in an experiential class, and the impression was not good. At that time, the baby was less than one year old and was attending class with older children. The paints given by the teacher were not edible, but my child's oral period had not passed. I was terrified." Mei Shanshan recalled.
What really scared her away was the high child care fees.
"It's too expensive." The institution that Mei Shanshan went to has a childcare fee of 8,000 yuan per month, plus a monthly mortgage of 20,000 yuan. The salary of her and her husband is basically "moonlight". , Came to Beijing to look after the children.
Unattended infants and young children have become one of the important reasons restricting fertility.
Yang Wenzhuang, Director of the Department of Population and Family of the National Health Commission, once stated that the data of the "Seven Census" shows that the size of my country's existing family households is 2.62 persons, which is down from 3.1 persons in the "Six Census".
In addition, there are about 42 million infants and young children aged 0-3 in the country.
According to the survey, one-third of them have a strong demand for childcare services, but the actual supply is now about 5.5%, and there is a large gap between supply and demand.
The number of childcare institutions registered this year has exceeded 15,000
Once upon a time, domestic nurseries were not as scarce as they are now.
Many post-80s may have the impression that their parents go to work, put themselves in the nursery run by the company, and pick them up after get off work and go home together.
"After entering the market economy in the 1990s, enterprises, government agencies and institutions gradually cancelled the socialized childcare services in the past. The separation of childcare services from enterprises was a requirement for reforming the market economy at that time, because enterprises needed to be based on market prices or personnel. It was configured to provide kindergarten services, so the kindergarten part was stripped out after the 1990s." Professor Lu Jiehua of the Department of Sociology of Peking University pointed out to the Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client.
In 2016, with the implementation of the full liberalization of the two-child policy, infant childcare was put on the agenda again, some childcare institutions began to emerge again, and public kindergartens were also exploring the decline in enrollment age.
On May 9, 2019, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of Care Services for Infants and Children under 3 Years of Age". The childcare industry ushered in a heavy policy and further standardized infant care service institutions.
After the policy was introduced, capital began to focus on the field of childcare.
The Guangzheng Hang Seng Securities Research Report pointed out that in the field of early education and nursery education in 2019, offline entity service institutions completed 15 investment and financing, and the accumulated financing was about 450 million yuan.
Including Building Block Baby, MoreCare Maokai, Pony Run, Time Penguin, Children's Country Exquisite Nursery, Le Rong Children's Home, Dole Bear, Sanyou Parent-child, Chizi Club, New York International Children's Club, Ten Niu Town, New York Among 14 institutions such as Nuo Education, Shengdun Education and Urjoyschool, Jengmubao raised 2 times at the beginning of the year and the end of the year.
The entry of capital has also accelerated the pace of expansion of childcare institutions.
According to the company's data, in 2019, the number of registered enterprises related to childcare in the country was 3783. By 2020, this number has increased to 13,890.
Since the beginning of this year, the number of registered enterprises related to childcare in the country has reached 15,924, and the number of registrations has exceeded that of the entire year of last year.
As of August 20, there were a total of 40,491 existing enterprises with the keyword "childcare" across the country.
In contrast, as of the end of July, there were 269,700 existing enterprises with the keyword "kindergarten" across the country.
What is the status of childcare institutions?
The client of Sino-Singapore Jingwei visited Beijing and found that there are still a small number of public childcare institutions in the market at present, mainly private private childcare institutions.
From the price point of view, private childcare institutions can also be divided into three categories: high, middle and low. The price of high-end childcare institutions is often over 10,000 yuan, ranging from 10,000 to 15,000 yuan; the price of middle-end childcare institutions is about 5,000 yuan to 7,000 yuan. ; The price of low-end childcare institutions is around 3,000 yuan.
In a kindergarten institution located in Haidian District, Beijing, the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client saw that the institution mainly provides early education and nursery services for infants and young children aged 0-3. There are four nursery classes in total, with the number of students enrolled in each class. There are no more than 16 people, and the teacher-student ratio is 1:4.
Source: Photo by Zhao Sihan, an intern from Sino-Singapore Jingwei
According to the institution’s teachers, the institution’s childcare classes are divided into two types: international classes and bilingual classes, with tuition fees of 14,800 and 12,800 respectively.
“International classes have foreign teachers participating throughout the day to create an English language environment for children, and the fees are more expensive than bilingual classes.” Despite the high fees, the teacher in charge of the institution said that the current four childcare classes are full and those who enrolled in September Places need to be booked in advance.
Another kindergarten institution of a certain chain brand in Xicheng District. The Sino-Singapore Jingwei client found this institution in a residential area. The institution has three classrooms and one activity room, which are divided into three classes: large, medium and small. The enrollment of the class is 10-15, and the monthly tuition fee is 6,480 yuan and the meal fee is 1,000 yuan, which is 7,480 yuan in total. If the tuition fee is paid for half a year to one year, the meal fee is free.
Teachers from this institution also said that the degree is tight, and it is best to register in advance for enrolling in a nursery school in September.
"If the class is full, it will not be accepted," said the teacher, who currently has a limited number of places left.
Invested one million yuan in four years before returning to the capital
Although nursery schools seem to be in strong demand and a "blue ocean", it is not easy to make a profit.
On the one hand, parents have limited affordability of prices and have concerns about the safety of the institution; on the other hand, the institution has a large initial investment and a longer profit cycle.
Duo Le Xiong is a national chain nursery school brand. The Sino-Singapore Jingwei client called the relevant staff of the institution on the grounds of consulting and joining. The other party said that it can carry out brand authorization, course output and teacher training, which can be launched in different cities. The funding is different.
"Beijing needs about 2 million yuan, and second-tier cities may need 1.5-1.8 million yuan, including the initial fee to the headquarters, decoration, and early-stage staff salaries. The specific investment also has a large cost composition with the scale of the school and the selected venue. Relationship." The above-mentioned person said.
According to his introduction, if the start-up capital is 2 million yuan in Beijing, the size of the organization is about 400-500 square meters, basically 3-4 classrooms, which can enroll about 60 students, and each classroom can accommodate 15-25 students.
"It will take about a year and a half to recover the cost." The person in charge said that the profit rate of the entire industry is about 30%. If 60 children are recruited, 8,000 yuan per month and 10 months of tuition per year, approximately 4.8 million yuan in operating income. Yuan, the profit is about 1.2 million-1.5 million yuan.
"This is in the case of full children." The staff member emphasized.
However, a nursery school practitioner who did not want to be named introduced to the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that the initial investment in rent and decoration is the "big head", and the start-up capital needed to open a nursery school in Beijing is far more than 2 million.
In addition, enrollment is also a big problem.
Wang Wei (pseudonym) is the person in charge of a kindergarten institution in Tianjin. In 2017, she occasionally learned about the kindergarten program. “At the time, I thought this was a new industry and a trend of development, so I immediately set up a kindergarten institution. "Wang Wei recalled that when it opened in 2019, I didn't expect to catch up with the epidemic in just one year of operation.
Business will be closed for half a year in 2020, and classes will not be officially resumed until June of that year.
In the three years since she started her business, Wang Wei has also deeply felt the difficulty of the childcare industry.
She calculated an account for the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client. Take a 300-square-meter base business, 60 people with a degree, and 4 class configurations as an example. Due to the particularity of the childcare project, the decoration materials must be environmentally friendly, and the decoration cost is only It will increase by 20% invisibly. In addition to safe facilities, wall soft packs, and floor cushions, the overall decoration cost will be about 3 million yuan, the rent will be 400,000 yuan a year, and the monthly operating cost will be about 100,000 yuan. 1.2 million, which means a one-time investment of 4.6 million in the first year.
According to Wang Wei’s observation, currently in the Tianjin market, the charge for childcare institutions is about 5,000 yuan. If calculated based on the recruitment of 60 people, the annual revenue is about 3.6 million, which means that the decoration cost can be recovered in basically two years. Some surplus.
"But in fact, the monthly fee of 5,000 yuan is basically impossible to recruit 60 children. In the current program, it is very rare to receive 40 children. If the enrollment number is used, it will take four years to return. Ben." Wang Wei said helplessly.
Wang Wei is also well aware that relevant departments and parents hope to launch more inclusive programs at a price close to the people, such as charging a monthly childcare fee of around 3,000 yuan.
"But according to this standard, there is no way to achieve the normal operation of the project."
She expects the government to provide not only policy support, but also financial support or site support. "Current rent pressure is the dilemma faced by childcare projects."
Promote more social capital to run kindergartens
How can more families be able to afford childcare and feel relieved?
In recent years, local governments have promoted inclusive childcare services as a key project for people’s livelihoods. They have not only increased the number of inclusive childcare institutions, but also increased their support, including rent-free venues, decoration subsidies, and operating subsidies. Etc.
Taking Zhejiang Province as an example, in 2020, "care of infants and children under 3 years old" will be listed as the top ten livelihood facts, and it is clear that 200 new care service institutions for infants and children under 3 years old and 5,000 new daycare places were added that year.
Lu Jiehua pointed out that although there have been some pilot projects in some areas in the past two years, it has not yet achieved a clear expected effect from a nationwide perspective.
"How to promote more social capital to provide childcare services is an issue that needs to be considered." Lu Jiehua pointed out that childcare services should be divided into two types of services: one is basic public services, which means that families who have given birth to children Basic public services that should be enjoyed; the other is that the market provides mid-to-high-end public services, such as high-end services that need to be paid at their own expense.
Lu Jiehua further pointed out that the government has the responsibility to provide basic public services.
The first positioning of basic public services is inclusiveness, and the second positioning is to have a certain quality and meet certain standards.
These aspects are indispensable.
“Children’s business is a major matter. Just a low price and a safety accident will cause the reputation of the entire industry.” Lu Jiehua believes that how to provide basic child care services that more families can afford is very important. This requires relevant information. Departments to cooperate closely and jointly promote.
Dong Dengxin, a professor at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, also believes that for most ordinary families, they still want to enroll in public childcare institutions close to their homes. This requires increasing financial investment, first solving some problems, and satisfying the general public. Facilitate the needs of nursery care.
When talking about how to promote more private capital and market players to enter childcare services, Lu Jiehua believes that enterprises need a clear market prospect to enter childcare services.
Under the current circumstances, companies that undertake childcare services can be provided with certain land preferences, tax reductions or other preferential policies.
He emphasized that in the future, no matter what kind of kindergarten service organization it is, it will need to be treated equally, and enterprises must be allowed to make profits in this field, so as to promote the gradual rise of the market.
"Although there may be problems with low profits at present, the kindergarten industry may be transformed into an industry in the future, both high-end and mid-end, which will form an orderly cycle of the market." Lu Jiehua said.
In Dong Dengxin's view, we can refer to the government's financial subsidies for institutional pensions. The financial subsidies for institutional pensions include one-time construction subsidies and monthly bed allowances. If the pension financial subsidies are copied to nursery institutions, I believe the institutions will have motivation. Do.
He believes that it is also possible to encourage qualified and qualified companies to open nursery schools as an employee benefit. If there are some remaining indicators, they can also be opened to residents in the surrounding areas. For such companies, it can be viewed from the perspective of finance and taxation. Given some preferential policies, it can also play a demonstrative effect.
At the same time, solving the problem of parents' trust in nurseries is also a top priority.
Dong Dengxin told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that, firstly, the number of domestic childcare institutions is relatively small, and the other is that the operation history is relatively short. In terms of operation and management, there are problems such as low service quality, insufficient number of professionals, and low customer trust.
Lu Jiehua emphasized that the government needs to strengthen supervision of safety issues that may exist in childcare services.
"Kindergarten services should not be rushed, but must be supervised, standardized, and standardized." (Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
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