Drop the MBA (my baby achiever) act

At this year's Two Sessions, Chen Lei, a member of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference criticized the fact that some preschool training centers have started MBA courses for 1-year-old babies. Yes, you read that right. And according to the Youth Daily, as these babies kick and scream in these classrooms, their doting parents patiently try to keep them still in their seats.

These so-called MBA courses targeted at babies cost more than 10,000 yuan ($1,605) a year. Chen, who is also the head of the China Welfare Institute Nursery, urged the authorities to try to regulate this kind of lunacy in the preschool education market.

But to be honest, I'm not totally surprised to hear that such courses exist - and that people are prepared to sign up their tots for them. Competition in the preschool education market is fierce. And institutions are constantly racking their brains to try to get an edge over their competitors and to come up with elite-sounding courses that will appeal to pushy parents.

Sadly, for many Chinese moms and dads, their offspring's education can't start soon enough. And the more education they have under their elasticized belts before primary school starts, the better.

This means they are enrolled into all kinds of classes, everything from math and English to ballet, and singing.

In my opinion, the most important thing for a child of this age is to be able to play.

A child who can barely sit up or control their own bowel movements is hardly likely to show much flair for the finer details of corporate financing or international marketing.

And forcing them to stay still for such long periods of time will only stifle their creativity and powers of expression in the long run.

Up until the age of 3, toddlers should be slowly learning how to dress themselves, feed themselves, and to communicate and cooperate with others. These basic life skills are of far more importance than anything an MBA can tell a young child about daily life.

What is evident from this story is that the preschool training market is woefully under-regulated. Preschool training institutes can simply register with the administration for industry and commerce and start operating as a company without any further checks. As things currently stand, they are not within the remit of the education authorities and therefore their syllabuses and teaching methods do not have to be approved. 

Shanghai only has 19 public preschool centers providing four free classes every year to parents of children under 3. But this is nowhere near enough to meet the demand in the city.

I think regulations need to be imposed in this market. This is also necessary because of the fact that many of these preschool centers employ staff without any teaching qualifications or teaching experience.

This year, Shanghai has been selected as a pilot city by the Ministry of Education to implement standardized preschool education for all under-3s in the city.

I sincerely hope this initiative brings some common sense and transparency to a system that is currently playing havoc with the lives of our children.