the closure of kindergartens in many places has aroused concern. how to "escape from the predicament" with a decrease in the number of students?
2024-09-18
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chao news client reporter jin dandan zhu lizhen
during the summer vacation, an unexpected news came that a private kindergarten in the center of hangzhou that had been in operation for more than 20 years had ceased operations. chao news reporters learned that except for the children who graduated from the senior class and entered the first grade of primary school in september this year, all other children in the kindergarten were transferred to public kindergartens in the surrounding area.
in recent years, due to the decrease in the number of students and other reasons, some private kindergartens with poor risk resistance have been closed. how to get rid of this dilemma is not only an imminent test for many private kindergartens, but also a matter for public kindergartens and relevant education departments to prepare for the rainy day.
data picture, not related to this article. image source: visual china
phenomenon: private kindergartens are closing one after another, and public kindergartens are unevenly popular
not only in hangzhou, there are reports of private kindergartens ceasing operations all over the country.
on june 28, the education bureau of wuhan economic and technological development zone, hubei province, issued a notice on the suspension of operation of six private kindergartens and the revocation of their school operating licenses. the six local private kindergartens applied to stop operating due to lack of funds, reduced student enrollment, and inability to guarantee normal operating costs.
"the number of children enrolled in kindergartens has been declining year by year, while the rental costs have been rising year by year. the daily operating costs of the kindergarten remain high, and we are facing serious losses, making it impossible for our kindergarten to maintain normal operations. our kindergarten will officially cease operations on july 19." "due to various factors that have led to the inability to operate normally, the kindergarten is considering transformation, and enrollment for the fall class of 2024 will be suspended." in july this year, a number of private kindergartens in hunan issued notices to terminate operations and suspend enrollment.
on july 22, the official wechat account of the education and sports bureau of guixi city, yingtan city, jiangxi province announced that six kindergartens applied to stop operating due to demolition, decreased student enrollment and other reasons.
in yuecheng district, shaoxing city, zhejiang province, seven private kindergartens have stopped operating or stopped recruiting students this year. most of the private kindergartens that are recruiting students only recruit two small classes, and some have only a single-digit number of applicants, or even no applicants. a private kindergarten principal in yuecheng district revealed that they planned to open two small classes this year, and finally 34 people signed up. "it is not easy for private kindergartens to open two classes now."
in recent years, the number of students has decreased, and the income of some private kindergartens can no longer cover the daily operating costs, and they are facing the dilemma of losses. on the other hand, in recent years, more stable, high-quality and more cost-effective public kindergartens have been able to provide sufficient places, and private kindergartens have had to enter the "elimination round".
at the same time, some public kindergartens in cities are also "disappearing". these "disappeared" public kindergartens are located in remote areas or in old urban areas with insufficient student enrollment.
"in some old urban areas, due to the age structure of the population and the aging of the population, there are very few newly registered children in recent years, and the demand for kindergarten admission for children of school age is also relatively low." an industry insider analyzed that kindergartens are not just "disappearing" slowly, but "unevenly distributed" is a more appropriate description. in emerging urban areas with huge population inflows, kindergarten resources have remained tight in the past two years.
"in the past two years, after adjustments, the places in several kindergarten campuses have just been able to meet the needs of school-age children in the area." chen qing (pseudonym) is the head of a public kindergarten in hangzhou. several campuses of this kindergarten are located in the new urban area where many new hangzhou residents have settled. "five or six years ago, when the number of students was the highest, the class sizes of large, medium and small classes were almost "maximum", and could only accommodate families in the service area with the same household. in the year with the most students, admission was even based on the time of settlement. in the past two years, admission is not so tight. not only can all children with the same household be enrolled, but also some children of migrant workers in the service area can be enrolled."
in recent years, hangzhou has put new kindergartens into use every year as community supporting kindergartens. these kindergartens are also located in streets with dense new communities, and there is a great demand for children of school age to enter kindergartens.
breakthrough: opening daycare centers, providing convenient admission, and allocating resources
according to the data from the ministry of education, in 2023, there were 274,400 kindergartens in china, with a total of 40,929,800 children in preschool education. compared with 2022, there were 14,800 fewer kindergartens in china, and the number of children in kindergartens decreased by 5,345,700. in the past year, an average of 40 kindergartens were closed every day.
how to break the dilemma faced by kindergartens?
the establishment of daycare classes is undoubtedly one of the important adjustments.
in june this year, hangzhou city issued an announcement that various kindergartens in hangzhou city plan to open nearly 600 daycare classes in the fall of 2024, providing tens of thousands of daycare places, and welcome babies to attend daycare.
with the adjustment of the national birth policy and the relaxation of the second and third child policies, the demand for infant care and early education services from all walks of life is growing rapidly. it has become the wish of many families to attend high-quality and affordable kindergartens near their homes.
at the beginning of this year, the hangzhou municipal education bureau and four other departments issued the "implementation opinions on promoting the 'integrated childcare' work of hangzhou kindergartens", which mentioned: from 2023 to 2025, the city plans to add 10,000 new kindergarten places.
"integrated childcare" refers to adding childcare classes in kindergartens and providing scientific childcare services for the fourth year of preschool. hangzhou, which has the highest proportion of children in public kindergartens in the province, is gradually improving the "integrated childcare" education service system for kindergartens. in 2023, kindergartens (parks) providing childcare services in various parts of hangzhou will reach 50% of the total number of kindergartens (parks), an increase of 25 percentage points over the previous year.
at the same time, some places have also tried "convenient admission". in recent years, the education bureau of binjiang district, hangzhou city has comprehensively considered the distribution of educational resources in the district, the number of registered residents, and the subsequent trend of student sources, fully tapped the potential, and formulated an enrollment plan for convenient admission services. in simple terms, kindergartens with more than enough places break through the restrictions on housing and household registration and provide enrollment services for the children of employees of surrounding companies.
take binhui kindergarten as an example. there are three residential areas within the service area of the kindergarten. after recruiting enough students from the registered places last year, there were still vacancies. next to the kindergarten are a number of high-tech enterprises such as netease, h3c group, zhongnan group, and huawei hangzhou research institute. the kindergarten has vacancies, the enterprises have needs, and the education bureau has policies, so "convenient admission" came into being.
this year, the pilot scope has been expanded to include binhui kindergarten, binxing kindergarten, qiantang dijing yongjiuhe branch, chunbo nanyuan kindergarten, xixing kindergarten tianyaocheng and other public kindergartens, ensuring that there are pilot kindergartens in all three streets in the district.
the resources of kindergartens (parks) that have stopped enrolling students are also being redeployed. some have completely transformed into nursing homes, while many have changed their tracks in the education circle.
there are two public kindergartens in the main urban area of hangzhou, about 100 meters apart. however, in the past two years, the number of students in both kindergartens has been insufficient, and both are in a "half-full" state. this year, one of the kindergartens has stopped recruiting students, and the site will be used as a transition site for the nearby primary school, realizing the reorganization and allocation of resources.
a private kindergarten that has stopped enrolling students plans to use its site as a children's palace near homes, providing more space for extracurricular activities for children in the community.
getting out of trouble: putting higher demands on kindergarten teachers
in fact, once a kindergarten is closed, not only the venue is "idle", but also the teachers. it is understood that some of the teachers of the closed kindergartens have flowed to other public kindergartens.
on the other hand, this also puts higher demands on the existing kindergarten teachers.
a person in charge of a public kindergarten said that compared with the high demand for preschool teachers in previous years, as the number of classes and class sizes have decreased in recent years, there is more room for selection when recruiting preschool teachers, and only the more competitive preschool teachers can take up the posts. comparatively speaking, the teaching staff has been stronger in the past two years.
at present, every public kindergarten education group in binjiang district, hangzhou has opened a nursery class, and the focus of the kindergarten small class is different from that of the nursery class. in view of the age characteristics of the children in the nursery class, some integrated nursery and early childhood pilot kindergartens are set up, and the "three teachers and one caregiver" staffing is implemented (that is, three teachers and one caregiver are equipped, while ordinary kindergarten small classes are "two teachers and one caregiver"). at the same time, higher requirements are put forward for the qualifications of teachers participating in childcare - nursery teachers must not only have a teacher qualification certificate, but also a childcare or nanny certificate to ensure that full-time teachers not only have a solid foundation in educational theory, but also have professional infant care and childcare capabilities.
many kindergarten practitioners said in interviews that many kindergartens are currently in an ideal state of teachers and students. the number of children enrolled is not as high as it was a few years ago. with an appropriate teacher-student ratio, children will receive more attention and the quality of education will be improved accordingly. many industry insiders said that the survival of the fittest in preschool education has become inevitable, and the high-quality development of preschool education is also a path recognized by everyone. for every kindergarten, cultivating internal strength and improving the quality of education are the foundation of its existence.
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