Pressurized preschoolers

File photo of a school in Qinghai, China. (Photo/China News Service)

Pessimism over ban on heavy academic burdens on kindergartners

Starting this week, Beijing's education authority will launch an inspection into its kindergarten system looking for schools that place heavy academic burdens on pupils.

The government will downgrade the rankings of kindergartens that teach children primary school level subjects like English, pinyin and math skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division involving numbers larger than 20. The involved kindergarten headmasters will be held accountable, according to Beijing Municipal Commission of Education.

Kindergartens should focus on helping kids form proper behavioral habits, learn to perceive rules and understand their surroundings through games and activities, said Fu Zhifeng, deputy director of the commission. He said that Beijing's preschools are banned from teaching kids topics that should be taught in primary schools.

Kindergartens that push children too hard by teaching them primary schools curriculums is a problem that has plagued China's education system for many years. The Beijing government launched programs to try to stamp it out in 2012 and 2013 but it has persisted nevertheless.

Under China's high-pressure exam-oriented education system in primary and high schools, kindergartens have joined hands with parents to stuff preschoolers with as much education as possible to prepare them in future competition.

Looking for a head start

Chinese parents who want their children to be competitive right from the start of their education are keen on their offspring being pushed to their limits as soon as possible.

Wei Hongsheng, a father of a 3-year-old boy, sent his son to a private kindergarten in Yizhuang, Beijing last year.

"I am starting to worry that my son may fall behind in his primary school studies, since his kindergarten only teaches him English and basic Chinese," Wei told the Global Times, adding that the school is the only kindergarten close to his neighborhood.

Chinese children will start primary school when they are 6 years old, according to China's Compulsory Education Law.

After kindergarten finishes, Wei and his wife teach their son numeracy skills and watch educational DVDs with him, in a bid to improve his son's ability to learn.

"My son's kindergarten also provides some optional classes, such as drawing and dance," Wei said.

If the kindergarten changes its current curriculum due to the inspection, Wei says he will have to teach his son by himself or send him to an unregulated training agency.

Wei knows that overloading his son with academic burdens at such a young age is tough on his boy but he says that "all the kids around us are learning what the primary school teaches, and I am forced to let my boy join them."

Chinese kindergartens too, feel forced to teach English, math and Chinese in order to win more students.