(Ecns.cn)！When you see lots of people queuing up with tents, camp beds, and benches on a street in Beijing, do not automatically assume they are die-hard fans trying to get concert tickets or the latest version of an iPad. They could be parents and grandparents waiting for their child's admission to a kindergarten.
Although the central government has introduced a slew of policies since last year to tackle admission difficulties, parents in Beijing are still struggling to get their children admitted to kindergartens.
One kindergarten for a population of 150,000
"I went to the only state-owned kindergarten in our community, and they told me there are no spaces left," a mother surnamed Liu said.
With a population of more than 19 million, Beijing only had 1,266 kindergartens in 2010, according to the Municipal Commission of Education.
The problem goes back to 2000, when the government reformed pre-school education, requiring many kindergartens to become commercial businesses.
The number of kindergartens run by state-owned enterprises and government organs in China has dropped from 16,000 in 2000 to just 5,000 in 2007.
In addition, children born in 2007, a particularly auspicious year in the Chinese calendar, and 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympics, are reaching kindergarten age. Birth rates in these two years hiked in Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities in China.
In order to solve this problem, the central government introduced a national plan last May to reform and develop education from 2010 to 2020, pledging to realize universal coverage of a year of pre-school education across the country, two years in most areas, and three years in some better-off areas.
Local governments of major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Dalian had actively responded to the plan by investing significantly in to building state-owned kindergartens.
Despite these efforts, the situation in the capital city has remained unchanged.
"Community kindergartens are still outnumbered by kids," said Liu, who lives in a neighborhood with a population of 150,000 and only one state-owned kindergarten.
There is another state-run kindergarten right beside Liu's residential community. Through special connections, she eventually met the head of the kindergarten.
To Liu's surprise, the kindergarten head turned her down with the reason that it is a community-based kindergarten with no rights to admit children from outside. "Please do not put me in a difficult position since you were introduced by a friend of mine. I can only accept 100 students every year and all of them are through connections," she told Liu.
One kindergarten for a price of 60,000 yuan
Since the state-run ones are not an option for Liu, she decided to go for a private kindergarten.
As the popular joke recently circulating the internet says: "In terms of educational expenses, what is more expensive than going to college? Studying abroad? No, kindergarten."
Tuition at a state-run kindergarten in Beijing generally costs 10,000 yuan (US$ 1550) a year, but they usually require a "research donation" of another 10,000, which makes the actual charge about 20,000 yuan (US$ 3100) a year.
However, this price is considered cheap compared to the privately owned schools, which are not financed by the government and depend on tuition fees to survive.
According to statistics released by the municipal government, the annual per capita disposable income of Beijing's urban residents reached 29,073 yuan (US$ 4494) by 2010, while private kindergartens charge an average of 36,000 (US$5565) a year, and even 60,000 (US$9276) for some of them, far exceeding the amount that a Beijing resident can afford.
"They say they are teaching the children in both mandarin Chinese and English. It's just a scam for them to charge high tuition fees," Liu said.
Asked whether she considered not sending her child to a so-called bilingual kindergarten, Liu said she does not have a choice.
"All of them claim to be bilingual," she said.
Once again, through special connections, Liu eventually admitted her child to a private kindergarten at a price of 30,000 yuan a year.
