The three-child policy is implemented:
How to make up for the gap in the supply and demand of childcare services
On July 21, at a press conference of the State Council Information Office, Yang Wenzhuang, Director of the Population and Family Department of the National Health Commission, introduced that there are about 42 million infants and children aged 0 to 3 in the country.
According to the survey, one-third of them have a strong demand for childcare services, but the actual enrollment in childcare services is now about 5.5%, and there is still a large gap between supply and demand.
What are the problems behind the 5.5% data?
The three-child policy is implemented, how should childcare services make up for the shortcomings?
The reporter visited nursery institutions on the spot and conducted investigations and interviews.
The willingness to enroll in nursery schools is concentrated in the cities, and the imbalance between supply and demand is prominent
In order to solve the problem of taking care of her two-year-old daughter, Liu Mei changed jobs and entered the insurance industry with more flexible working hours.
"I don't want old people to look after children. On the one hand, I am afraid that they will be tired. On the other hand, my ancestors tend to spoil the children."
There are differences in educational philosophy between generations.
After some comparisons, Liu Mei successfully sent her 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter to a nursery school.
In addition to needing to pick up and drop off on time in the morning and evening, she can also go to work with peace of mind.
Unlike Liu Mei, Sun Qian had no choice.
Sun Qian and her husband work in Beijing, and both are from Shaanxi. His parents-in-law are old and in poor health, so they refuse to come from other places.
"The child is only two years old. Both of them are busy at work and both have night shifts. The child's caregiving problem has always caused headaches."
Young parents working in big cities face the same problems as Sun Qian or Liu Mei.
Hong Xiumin, director of the Institute of Preschool Education of Beijing Normal University, said: “According to a survey of the supply and demand of childcare in 13 cities in 2019, nearly 70% of families have the willingness to go to childcare. This willingness is particularly obvious in large cities.”
Even in different cities, the supply and demand situation of nursery schools is not balanced.
According to calculations, in order to reach the target value of 4.5 places in the national "14th Five-Year Plan" plan, Shenzhen will provide about 85,000 places in 2025.
Currently, there is a gap of 67,000.
In Zhengzhou City, not only does the retreat fully meet the demand, but there is also a lot of vacancy.
In 2020, when the Zhengzhou Municipal Health Commission responded to the proposal of the CPPCC members, as of the end of 2019, Zhengzhou had 261 childcare institutions for children aged 0 to 3, with a total of 20,219 childcare places and 11,269 children.
There are nearly 10,000 vacancies.
What is the level of 5.5% as a country's overall data?
In 2016, the average enrollment rate of children under 3 years old in the member countries of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) was 33.2%.
In 10 countries, the enrollment rate of children under the age of 3 has exceeded 50%, among which Denmark has the highest rate of 61.8%, Belgium, Iceland, France, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway and other countries are also close to 60%.
"On the issue of children under 3 years of age enrolling in kindergartens, the higher the ratio, the better." Associate Professor Wang Lingyan of Nanjing Normal University introduced that for children aged 0 to 3, the family is the main place of life, and the parents are the most important place in the development of children. Important person.
A large number of studies have proved that, on the one hand, premature delivery to nursery institutions will have a negative impact on the growth of children.
On the other hand, a positive parenting style and family environment can have a positive effect on the development of children, especially the close one-to-one relationship between the main caregiver and the child, which is difficult to obtain in an environment outside the family.
"From the perspective of actual needs, there is a greater need for childcare in 2 to 3 years old, and we should focus on the need for childcare in this age group."
The monthly fee exceeds 10,000 yuan, and there is a gap in the training of nursery teachers
At present, the childcare services provided on the market are mainly specialized childcare institutions, kindergartens and some early education classes.
In terms of the form of operation, it is mainly privately run, and there are few nursery services in public kindergartens.
Reporters visited many places in Beijing and found that special nursery institutions charge about 7,000 yuan a month. If there are outdoor venues, the price will rise by 3,000 yuan to reach 10,000 yuan a month.
The fees of private nursery institutions in Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu and other places have also been maintained at this level.
Childcare expenditures are not a small expense for most families, and the high fees discourage many families.
"3000~4000 yuan is more in line with my expectations. Some childcare institutions charge 7,000 to 8,000 yuan through publicity stunts and selling points, which is unacceptable." Ma Jintong, a parent who lives in Yancheng, Jiangsu, told reporters.
Some nursery institutions visited by the reporter live in shopping malls. The publicity photos of "scientific parenting", "exquisite small classes" and "foreign teachers teaching" point to "pay attention to the healthy development and functional development of the brains of young children in critical periods."
"Before the child enters school, we will conduct a multi-dimensional balanced assessment to comprehensively examine the sensory integration ability. To help the child smoothly pass various sensitive periods, learn to express and control emotions." A daycare early teacher in Haidian introduced to reporters, "These are all It’s not what the family nursery can provide."
The relatively high-priced kindergartens all include foreign teachers' courses.
An industry insider told reporters, “If there are foreign teachers, the fee level can be increased a lot. Therefore, many childcare institutions are willing to invite foreign teachers to join, and what is behind it is a cost account that is difficult to calculate.”
The operating cost of childcare institutions has always been a mystery to the outside world.
"Cost accounting is very important, but it is also difficult to calculate the true cost." Wang Lingyan said, in a general sense, the costs of childcare institutions mainly include personnel expenditures, public expenditures and capital expenditures.
In big cities, rent costs are too high, driving prices to high levels.
However, the treatment of practitioners is not high.
"At present, the quality of employees in nursery schools is uneven, and the overall quality is not high, which also limits the level of remuneration. This also shows that there are a lot of gaps in the training of teachers in nursery schools."
How much can the price of childcare institutions meet the expectations of parents?
Wang Lingyan introduced: "Reasonability itself is subjective, but in terms of parents' actual needs, what most parents need is inclusive childcare services with reasonable fees and basic quality assurance."
"Up to now, the national and local implementations have not reached a unified consensus on the identification standards and fee guidance prices for inclusive kindergartens, even the standards for inclusive kindergartens that have been implemented for many years are different." Hong Xiumin said.
Nearest inclusive education is the most popular, but not the only option
In April 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", which proposed that the enthusiasm of social forces should be fully mobilized to carry out infant care services in various forms.
After the policy was introduced, the market reacted significantly.
According to the data from the company's investigation, there are currently 33,000 enterprises related to "Training Education" in operation and surviving in my country.
Before 2019, the number of registrations related to childcare-related companies has grown slowly. In 2020, there will be more than 12,000 new companies, a year-on-year increase of 237%. This data has greatly exceeded the total number of registrations in the past ten years.
At the press conference, Yang Wenzhuang also introduced that as of June 30, 2021, more than 4,000 institutions have passed the registration in the National Nursery Registration System of the National Health Commission, and more than 10,000 are currently active. Apply.
In Shanghai, more and more kindergartens enroll children under 3 in public kindergartens.
This is because Shanghai’s public services have developed earlier and the birth population has been declining year by year. The original GSP kindergarten degrees have become vacant.
Hong Xiumin suggested: “All localities should promptly investigate and predict the different needs and characteristics of childcare service types, age, content, form, price, distance, etc. of families with infants and toddlers under 3 years old, and enhance the on-demand supply and effective according to the actual situation. Supply, while continuing to expand the total supply of nursery education, we will focus on developing nearby inclusive nursery education."
"There is still a long way to go between the willingness to enter the nursery and the actual behavior of entering the nursery. In fact, the long distance and high fees are certainly influencing factors, but more important than these two is that more than 40% of parents, I'm more concerned about sending children to nursery schools, whether they can be reassuring." Hong Xiumin said.
"Faced with the diverse options for enrolling in kindergartens, parents are most satisfied with the kindergartens run by public kindergartens. The contradiction is that in providing kindergarten services, the number of public kindergartens is relatively small." Wang Lingyan said frankly, one reality is that in large schools. In some areas, public kindergartens have not been allowed to admit children under 3 years old.
At present, the main goal of developing pre-school education is still focused on realizing the admission of children aged 3 to 6 years old.
“The establishment and development of a universal childcare service system is policy-oriented, but for an ordinary family, sending children to childcare institutions is just a form of childcare education. Childcare services should be based on improving the family’s scientific parenting capabilities. Angles and a comprehensive understanding.” Wang Lingyan suggested that in the care of children under 3, the core is to help them establish a stable relationship of dependence and give them a sense of security.
By giving more vacations, extending parental care time, providing convenient urban services for grandparents, or organizing corresponding activities by the community to provide more infant and child care options.
(Our reporter Chen Peng, our correspondent Zhang Shi)