Facing the difficulty of entering kindergarten, the cost of entering kindergarten and other pain points and difficulties a
key step in preschool education legislation
□ Our reporter Pu Xiaolei
The kindergarten that Beijing citizen Wu Lei’s son is in is a public kindergarten. The monthly nursery and food expenses add up to almost 1,500 yuan.
"To be honest, this kind of fee is not high in Beijing. Some private parks with the slogan of'Pure Foreign Teacher English Education' cost at least four to five thousand yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan a month. It can overcome the'difficulty in entering the kindergarten'. To avoid the'expensive admission' and send the child to a fairly good public garden, it is already very lucky." Wu Lei said.
It may not take a few years. Wu Lei’s luck can be experienced by more people. On September 7, the Ministry of Education issued a draft of the pre-school education law (draft for comments) to solicit public opinions.
This means that the preschool education legislation that has been calling for years has finally taken a crucial step.
As early as more than ten years ago, Zhou Hongyu, deputy to the National People's Congress and dean of the Yangtze River Education Research Institute, began to notice the problems in preschool education and has been paying attention to it ever since.
In recent years of research, he found that all sectors of society, especially parents of young children, are concerned about the relatively lagging development of preschool education in our country, the shortage of high-quality educational resources, "difficulty in entering kindergartens" and "expensive admission", and the poor quality of teachers in some kindergartens. Great opinions.
"The root cause of many problems in preschool education is that the current legal status of preschool education in our country is not clear, leading to unsatisfactory management and investment systems, unclear government responsibilities, and difficulty in establishing a healthy preschool education management order. Therefore, the only way to introduce preschool education as soon as possible Education law can fundamentally promote the healthy and sustainable development of preschool education." Zhou Hongyu said.
Difficulty in entering the kindergarten
In recent years, preschool education has developed rapidly.
The "Report of the State Council on the Reform and Development of Preschool Education" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in August 2019 showed that as of the end of 2018, there were 267,000 kindergartens nationwide and 46.56 million children in kindergartens. Compared with 2010, the number of kindergartens has increased by 77.3%, and the number of kindergartens has increased by 56.4%.
But it is undeniable that such a speed and scale of development still cannot fully meet the needs of the masses.
The "Report" frankly stated that due to various reasons, preschool education is still a weak link in my country’s education system, and the contradictions of unbalanced and insufficient development are still prominent in the field of preschool education. It is difficult to enter kindergartens and it is expensive to enter kindergartens. The problem still exists to some extent.
After long-term observation and analysis, Zhou Hongyu found that the problems of "difficulty in entering kindergartens" and "expensiveness in entering kindergartens" are mainly manifested in the "four nos"-the total number of kindergartens is small, the public kindergartens are obviously insufficient, the quality of private kindergartens is uneven, and the resources for high-quality preschool education are seriously insufficient. .
Zhou Hongyu believes that in order to solve the problems of “difficulty in entering kindergartens” and “expensiveness in entering kindergartens” to a greater extent, it is necessary to clarify the school running system of “government-led and extensive social participation” when formulating the preschool education law, and at the same time invest in public finances, Strengthen the supervision of private park fees and other aspects to make clear regulations.
"When formulating the pre-school education law, we should respond to the problem of'difficult to enter a kindergarten and expensive to enter a kindergarten'. On the one hand, we should clarify the main body of school running and the main input body, reasonably divide the responsibility of governments at all levels for investment in preschool education, improve the funding guarantee mechanism, and improve The number and quality of public parks; on the other hand, strengthen the supervision of private parks' fees, and on the basis of scientifically verifying the cost of running parks, curb excessively high fees." said Chen Ruiai, a representative of the National People's Congress and a professor at South China Agricultural University.
It is worth noting that the draft for soliciting opinions has made corresponding institutional design in terms of government supply and supporting construction.
For example, Article 20 of the draft for comments stipulates that new residential communities (residential quarters), old towns and shantytowns reconstruction, relocation of poverty alleviation, etc. should be built in accordance with relevant national and local standards.
Need to regulate social forces to run parks
The problems of "difficulty in entering the garden" and "expensive entry" have also provided some private gardens with opportunities to "fish in troubled waters" to a certain extent.
Before her son went to kindergarten, Wu Lei did some research on the kindergarten near her home, but the result surprised her.
"Most private gardens are formal, but there are also chaos such as renting duplexes or facades in the community as teaching venues, false propaganda under the banner of various foreign children's enlightenment concepts, and lack of corresponding qualifications for teachers," said Wu Lei. .
Zhou Hongyu pointed out that in recent years, the establishment of kindergartens by social forces has to some extent alleviated the contradiction of insufficient government investment in preschool education, but the qualifications of these kindergartens, the qualifications for running kindergartens, teacher qualifications, registration, quality of running kindergartens, and charging standards , Visual guidance evaluation, etc. still lack effective management and standards, and the conditions, rights and behaviors for running a park lack due standards and guarantees.
"Various social forces do not have corresponding norms for running parks, which is not conducive to ensuring the quality of social forces running parks, nor can they protect their rights and interests. This must be considered when formulating the preschool education law." Zhou Hongyu said.
The reporter noticed that the draft for soliciting opinions clearly stipulates the establishment conditions, establishment procedures, and internal management of kindergartens.
For example, Article 24 of the draft for comments stipulates that the establishment of a kindergarten should be equipped with "a kindergarten principal, teachers, and nursery, health care and other staff that meet the standards" and "conform to the national requirements for site selection and be set up in a safe area. Basic conditions such as "inside".
Clarify the qualifications of teachers and strengthen the construction of teachers
Eat more rice and less vegetables when you eat, because the teacher said, "Eat more rice will make you white"; people in front of you don’t have to flush the toilet when you line up to urinate...Beijing citizen Wang Yu told reporters that his daughter raised some after going to kindergarten The bad habits are brought back home.
"She didn't correct this habit until she was in elementary school. It was a headache to think about it. When she first entered the kindergarten, the principal said that their teachers were a mess, but she didn't want to be this way of education." Now I am still out of breath.
The problem of teacher qualifications has become a major bottleneck restricting the improvement of the quality of preschool education.
Liu Xiuyun, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and vice principal of Sucheng No. 1 Middle School in Anhui Province, found in his work research that some small and medium-sized cities and urban and rural preschool teachers are very weak, and the teacher-student ratio in many places does not meet national standards, and the educational level and professional title of preschool teachers The level is generally not high.
In order to solve the problem of teacher qualifications, Article 41 of the draft consultation draft stipulates that the state implements a qualification system for kindergarten teachers.
Kindergarten teachers shall obtain kindergarten teacher qualifications; those who have obtained other teacher qualifications can teach in kindergartens only after they have obtained professional training organized by the education administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government and obtained a qualification certificate.
While setting the entry threshold, the draft for comments also clarifies the corresponding guarantee and promotion mechanism, stipulates wages and benefits, related benefits, teacher training, on-the-job training, etc., to further strengthen the construction of the teaching team.
"When formulating the preschool education law, it should clearly stipulate the qualifications, responsibilities and rights, identity and status, appointment and assessment requirements of preschool education practitioners, especially teachers, and make it clear that kindergarten teachers should enjoy the same political and economic treatment as primary and secondary school teachers. , And make clear provisions on its responsibilities, obligations, wages, benefits, medical care, pension and unemployment insurance, professional titles, training and other basic rights. This is conducive to fundamentally protecting the legitimate rights and interests of teachers, thereby further strengthening the construction of preschool teachers. "Zhou Hongyu said.
(At the request of interviewees, Wu Lei and Wang Yu are pseudonyms)