All (2 pages) February 24, 2012, 11:53 China News Service Tang Li, I want to comment (144) Font size: T|T. On February 24, China News Service in Zhengzhou reported (by Tang Li) that Vice Minister of Education Liu Limin pointed out at the National Preschool Education Project Work Conference on February 23 that it is not appropriate to rely heavily on school buses to transport kindergarten children; a reasonable layout with nearby admission is the fundamental way to ensure the safety of young children.
On February 23, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance jointly held the National Preschool Education Project Work Conference in Zhengzhou. Vice Minister of Education Liu Limin attended the meeting. Liu said that according to the three-year action plan for preschool education formulated last year, domestic preschool education has achieved gratifying development results in various places, but there is still a considerable distance from the expectations of the general public. The problem of "difficulty in entering kindergarten" has not been significantly alleviated yet. The current task is to greatly increase the universal preschool educational resources in urban and rural areas, build a preschool education public service system covering both urban and rural areas with a reasonable layout, solve the problem of safe enrollment for young children, and cannot rely on the extensive use of school buses to transport children to kindergarten.
It is understood that since last year, according to the requirements and deployments of the country, all regions across the country have successively launched the three-year action plan for preschool education, aiming to expand preschool educational resources and accelerate the resolution of the problem of "difficulty in entering kindergarten," especially the problem of "difficulty in entering kindergarten" for rural children.
To support the comprehensive implementation of the three-year action plan for preschool education in all regions, especially in central and western regions, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education studied and formulated a package of policies to support the development of preschool education, initiating and implementing four major categories and seven key projects. With the principles of public welfare, universality, and low cost, preschool educational resources have rapidly increased. According to preliminary statistics, the total number of kindergartens nationwide increased by 16,000 in 2011, and the scale of children enrolled in kindergartens increased by more than 4 million people. Meanwhile, the training intensity for kindergarten teachers has also been increased, with the national training program for kindergarten teachers training 69,000 backbone kindergarten teachers in rural areas last year.
In terms of finance, the central government allocated special funds, and provincial-level finances also increased their regulation and support for difficult areas. Beijing, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hebei, Henan, Fujian, Chongqing, and other provinces and cities have formulated comprehensive award and subsidy methods for preschool education; Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Chongqing, Shaanxi, and other provinces and cities have issued assistance policies, providing subsidies for economically disadvantaged children, orphans, disabled children, etc., to receive universal preschool education. Shaanxi Province has fully implemented one year of free preschool education.
Liu Limin emphasized that expanding universal preschool educational resources in rural areas is the top priority of implementing the three-year action plan, focusing on solving the long-term problem of no kindergarten available for rural children. According to the requirements, each township must build at least one public kindergarten. Large villages will independently run kindergartens, small villages will jointly run kindergartens, and scattered areas will carry out preschool education巡回指导 services, especially in sparsely populated areas where preschool education巡回指导 services should be conducted, forming a full-coverage rural preschool education network covering counties, towns, and villages.
Regarding the problems of difficulty and high costs for urban children to enter kindergartens, Liu Limin pointed out that expanding universal educational resources should be the focus of urban preschool education development. First, it is necessary to build, use, and manage well the supporting resources in urban residential areas... Remaining text continues on the next page 1/2.