上幼儿园比上大学还难?

在现代城市发展过程中，尽管已经实现了九年义务教育，但是幼儿园上学难、上学贵的问题一直都困扰着许多家庭。望着堪比上大学费用的入园费，让很多工薪家庭望而却步。究竟该如何解决这一问题呢？政府官员如是说……

Dong Haina's four-year-old daughter is studying in a private kindergarten in Beijing.

"I heard that parents should book several years in advance if they want to send their children to a public kindergarten. And there is no public kindergarten near my home."

Dong says her daughter's kindergarten charges 2,500 yuan, about 380 U.S. dollars per month. This is about four times higher than the average tuition and accommodation fees at public universities in China.

Parents want their children to receive a good education but not all can afford that. Migrant worker, Qin Meifeng, and her husband earn only about 3,000 yuan every month.

"I've visited some reputable kindergartens. It's hard to find one that charges less than 1,000 yuan per month. That equals to one-third of my family's income. I can't afford that. I must choose a cheaper one."

In recent years, once kindergartens in Beijing start to enroll students, parents and grandparents will wait in the long lines, round-the-clock for their children's admission to state-run kindergartens.

Lv Yongzhong, an official from Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, says the existing kindergartens are far from enough to meet demand.

"It's estimated that in 2014, there will be 540,000 children at the age of three to six in Beijing while the current state-run kindergartens can receive only half of them."

The Beijing municipal government recently said it has budgeted five billion yuan, about 760 million U.S. dollars to build or expand 600 kindergartens in the next five years.

Ge Jianxiong, member of China's top political advisory body and professor with Fudan University elaborates on how to solve the problem.

"Most importantly, the government should increase investment because public services like pre-school education can't rely on private sectors. But the government could encourage non-governmental sectors to build more kindergartens. For example, the government could subsidize qualified private kindergartens as much as state-run kindergartens."

Ge points out that nowadays many parents are expecting too much from kindergartens.

"Why is it so hard and expensive to enter a kindergarten? On the one hand, it is caused by scarce educational resources. On the other hand, some parents put too much pressure on their children. They are flooding into kindergartens that offer English classes or ballet lessons. If parents blindly pursue the so-called elite kindergartens, they will always be in a crunch for them."

An official from China's Ministry of Finance said the government has budgeted three billion yuan, about 457 million U.S. dollars to develop state-run and private kindergartens.

Yuan Guiren, minister of Education says the government will alleviate the kindergarten problem within three years by strengthening legislation on preschool education.

For CRI, I am Zhang Ru.