Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 13 -
Question: launched more inclusive hosting summer classes, how effective?
Can it meet the needs?
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Shu Jing, Wu Zhendong, Wang Zichen
The summer vacation this year is very different from previous years-inclusive summer custody classes have been launched in many places across the country.
A few days ago, the Ministry of Education issued the "Notice on Supporting the Exploration and Development of Summer Custody Services."
Up to now, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanjing...at least a dozen cities have introduced summer custody service policies, and some have already opened custody classes.
Summer custody classes are gradually landing
Some places "test the waters" initially.
On the 2nd, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission stated that it would officially launch the summer custody service for students. Specifically, the district education committees will organize custody services for students from grade one to grade five.
Soon, parents of students in Dongcheng District of Beijing received a notification from the school in the WeChat group.
On the 5th, a school in Xicheng District notified parents that they could sign up for summer custody classes: the custody service is divided into two periods, and each student is limited to one; the custody time is from 8:30 in the morning to 5:30 in the afternoon.
In some places, the practice has been carried out for many years.
On the morning of July 5th, elementary school student Bao Jingxuan walked into a trusteeship class in Xuhui District, Shanghai. A college student specially designed easy-to-understand teaching cards for the children in the class.
"I remember the Opium War. This is knowledge I haven't learned yet." Bao Jingxuan said.
It is understood that as early as 2014, Shanghai formally established a summer nursery school for primary school students. Except for the suspension of the school due to the epidemic in 2020, a total of 2382 summer nurseries have been opened, serving more than 180,000 primary school students.
On the morning of the 6th, in the youth summer community nursery room at Qinyuan Road Community, Wuchang District, Wuhan City, 50 children listened and squeezed, creating their favorite clay sculptures.
In recent years, Wuhan has opened more than 300 community care rooms every year, with nearly 20,000 people participating every year.
Since the start of registration on June 30, more than 9,000 primary school students have signed up.
The first 114 municipal custody rooms were officially opened on July 5.
The Ministry of Education noticed clearly that the trusteeship service insisted on voluntary and non-compulsory.
It can be seen from the measures announced in various places that the trusteeship classes are mainly for local primary school students.
In some places, left-behind children, children of migrant workers, students from families with financial difficulties, and disabled children are also regarded as priority or key service targets.
Regarding fees, the Ministry of Education requires that the principle of inclusive public welfare be upheld.
In many places, "public welfare", "all free" or "no fee charged" are proposed, while some are only free for students whose families are in financial difficulties.
Some places charge fees ranging from 360 yuan to 600 yuan per period.
In terms of personnel arrangements, most localities rely mainly on recruiting volunteers.
For teachers, managers, etc. participating in summer care services, there are also places where they should be reflected in the assessment and evaluation.
"This is a good measure to benefit the people, and it can indeed solve the worries for parents." Beijing parent Ms. Wang believes that compared with nanny and off-campus institutions, school custody is safer, more economical, and a benefit to ordinary working class.
Tang Keli, an associate researcher of the Education Development Research Center of the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences, has done relevant research on the hosting services in European countries.
She said that affordable and high-quality "after-school care services" help children's social, emotional, and cognitive development and promote social integration.
Mainly for nursing, some places are robbed in less than 1 minute
In the summer vacation in recent years, Wuhan parents will send their son to the custody class.
She and her spouse have to go to work. The children are left unattended after the holidays. The training institutions charge more expensively. "The charity nursing room is free and safe, and the children can learn knowledge, which is very worry-free."
According to Huang Liang, deputy director of the Qinyuan Road Community in Wuchang District, Wuhan, the community trusteeship office plans to enroll 50 students this year, but nearly 100 people have signed up.
Due to the epidemic prevention and control requirements and the limited number of venues, it cannot meet the needs of all children. Currently, only time-sharing measures can be taken.
Wang Hua, deputy secretary of the Communist Youth League Working Committee of Caohejing Street, Xuhui District, Shanghai, said that there were 160 places in two summer daycare classes, and they were all robbed in less than 1 minute after the opening of online registration.
The parent, Ms. Liu, said, “I’ve been keeping an eye on the official account every day, and I was lucky enough to have the quota in seconds.”
Some parents worry that the summer nursery school will be reduced to a cram school or homework class. In this regard, the Ministry of Education has notified that it is necessary to arrange the content of summer care services reasonably, and should focus on nursing care, open classrooms, libraries, sports venues and other resources and facilities, and organize them reasonably Some collective game activities, cultural and sports activities, reading guidance, comprehensive practice, interest development, homework guidance and other services are not allowed to organize collective supplementary lessons or teach new lessons.
Various measures have been introduced in some places.
The number of units participating in the summer nursery school in Shanghai this year has increased to 14. These units will "bring lessons into classes" or "deliver courses" to enhance knowledge and interest.
For example, the organizer entrusted East China Normal University to develop a theme course on party history; the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission is responsible for the "health and health special course", and a group of young physician lecturers and representatives of young medical workers are "delivered into classes".
Units such as greening city appearance, water affairs, market supervision, and sports "distribute" courses such as environmental protection public welfare, food safety, and sports training.
In terms of site selection, various localities currently mainly adopt methods such as school undertaking, community trusteeship, and mobilization of resources.
In some places, daily hosting sites have been directly converted into vacation hosting sites to maximize the use of sites.
The custody room in Wuhan mainly relies on more than 1,000 youth spaces built by the city’s league organizations at all levels in the community.
Ye Zhuang, deputy secretary of the Wuchang District Committee of the Communist Youth League, said that the main reason for building the trusteeship room in the community is to be close to the student's home and convenient for transportation.
In addition, it also helps to narrow the distance with the residents.
In the youth space of the Community Party and Mass Service Center in the Youth Summer Vacation Community Nursery Room of Qinyuan Road Community, a nursery room of more than 200 square meters is equipped with desks and chairs, electronic pianos, projectors and other equipment.
Huang Liang said that this is usually the "4:30 school", and every day 20 students do their homework after school.
In the winter and summer vacations, it becomes a holiday care room.
Some Shanghai parents expressed their hope that the love summer kindergarten can be placed more on the campus of primary and secondary schools.
“Schools are the most experienced in closed management, and the surrounding environment of the campus is safer. In addition, the physical training, scientific innovation, music, art and other equipment resources on campus are also most suitable for students. In school, parents are the best. Don't worry." Parent Ms. Zhou said.
What other supporting measures need to be strengthened?
Personnel, funds and other elements are the key to running a custody class.
Earlier, some people worried that the teachers' rest time and rights could not be better protected in the summer school.
"Teachers work for more than ten hours a day, go out at 5 o'clock every day, and leave work at 7 or 8 o'clock in the evening. They all rely on the summer and winter vacations to take a breath."
In actual operation, some places have solved the difficulties of teachers by recruiting volunteers and appointing young social workers.
"Big hands holding small hands" is the characteristic of Shanghai elementary school love summer nursery school.
This year Shanghai recruited more than 12,000 student volunteers to ensure that the summer nursery school is staffed at a teacher-student ratio of 1:5.
Since 2014, more than 60,000 university and middle school student volunteers have participated.
At the school in Caohejing Street, Xu Chang, a sophomore at Shanghai Electric Power University, prepared an art course. She likes to play with children. “I want to be a teacher in the future, so I will use the summer nursery school to accumulate some experience and experience it in advance.”
Wang Hua introduced that each class of the school-running point of Caohejing Street is equipped with 5 college student volunteers and 2 high school student volunteers, and then a young social worker is selected by the street as a whole to form a "5+2+1" teacher model.
"The summer nursery school should not only bring happiness to the children, but also become a practice platform for college and high school students."
In terms of funding, in some places, the financial department approves and allocates funds for delayed service after class, and some are borne by the Municipal Federation of Trade Unions.
In some places, on the basis of public nursing, the necessary expenses are borne by the parents.
According to the relevant person in charge of the Wuhan Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League, a resource allocation model of "government-led, social participation, and family support" has gradually formed.
The government allocates special funds, and multiple departments such as education, public security, health and health participate together, and the Communist Youth League is specifically responsible.
Shanghai’s love summer nursery school stipulates that the necessary lunch, insurance, activity supplies and other expenses shall be borne by the parents of the students. In principle, each school will be charged at a standard of 600 yuan per person per term.
Some parents pointed out that some public summer daycare services have a single content.
“It’s good to be able to organize more meaningful activities. If you can only stay in the classroom, the children can’t play well, and they can’t cultivate hobbies, then they don’t want to participate.” Another parent suggested that the number of students currently enrolled in the custody class starts from 6 From the age of 12 to 12 years old, the mental level and curriculum needs of students of different age groups are quite different. Inclusive hosting has room for improvement in precise services.
There are also experts suggesting that summer nursery schools cannot replace the education responsibilities that families should bear. Parents can use the information of summer nursery schools to understand their children's interests and arrange summer study and life in a scientific and reasonable manner.