Three-child policy landing:
How to fill the gap between supply and demand of childcare services
On July 21, at the press conference of the State Council's new office, Yang Wenzhuang, director of the Department of Population and Family of the National Health Commission, introduced that there are about 42 million infants and young children aged 0 to 3 in the country. According to the survey, 1/3 of them have a relatively strong demand for childcare services, but now the actual enrollment is about 5.5%, and the gap between supply and demand is still very large.
What problems are reflected behind the 5.5% data? With the three-child policy in place, how should childcare services make up for shortcomings? The reporter visited the childcare institution on the spot and conducted an investigation and interview.
The willingness to enter the nursery is concentrated in the city, and the imbalance between supply and demand is prominent
In order to solve the problem of nursing her two-year-old daughter, Liu Mei changed jobs and entered the insurance industry, where working hours were more flexible. "I don't want the elderly to look at children, on the one hand, I am afraid of tired of them, on the other hand, the grandparents tend to spoil children."
There are differences in educational philosophy between generations. After some comparison, Liu Mei successfully sent her 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter to a childcare institution. In addition to the need for morning and evening pick-up and drop-off on time, she can also go to work with peace of mind.
Unlike Liu Mei, Sun Qian had no choice. Sun Qian and her husband work in Beijing, their hometown is in Shaanxi, and her mother-in-law is old and in poor health, and refuses to come from other places. "The child is only two years old, the two are usually busy at work, there are night shifts, and the child's care problems have always been a headache."
Young parents working in big cities, like Sun Qian or Liu Mei, face the same problems.
Hong Xiumin, director of the Institute of Preschool Education of Beijing Normal University, said: "In 2019, according to the survey of the supply and demand of 13 cities, nearly 70% of families have the willingness to enter the nursery. This willingness is particularly evident in large cities. ”
Even in different cities, the supply and demand situation of the nursery is uneven.
According to estimates, in order to reach the target value of 4.5 trusts per thousand people in the national "14th Five-Year Plan", Shenzhen will provide about 85,000 trusts by 2025. Currently, there are 67,000 gaps.
In Zhengzhou City, not only does the support fully meet the demand, but also has a lot of spare space. In 2020, the Zhengzhou Municipal Health Commission replied to the proposal of cppcc members of the Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, saying that by the end of 2019, there were 261 childcare institutions in Zhengzhou that accepted children aged 0 to 3, with a total of 20,219 childcare places and 11,269 children. There are nearly 10,000 vacant slots.
What is the level of 5.5% as a country's overall data?
In 2016, the average enrolment rate of children under 3 years of age in OECD member countries was 33.2%. There are 10 countries where the enrolment rate of children under 3 years of age exceeds 50%, of which the highest is Denmark at 61.8%, and Belgium, Iceland, France, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway and other countries are also close to 60%.
"When it comes to childcare for children under 3 years old, the higher the ratio, the better." Wang Lingyan, associate professor of Nanjing Normal University, introduced that for children aged 0 to 3, the family is their main living place, and parents are the most important people in children's development. A large number of studies have proved that, on the one hand, premature admission to childcare institutions can have a negative impact on children's growth. On the other hand, positive parenting styles and family environments can have a positive effect on child development, especially the intimate one-to-one relationship between the primary caregiver and the child, which is difficult to obtain in an environment outside the family. "From the perspective of real needs, the need for 2 to 3 years old to enter the nursery is greater, and the focus should be on the needs of this age group."
The monthly fee is more than 10,000 yuan, and there is a gap in the training of nursery teachers
At present, the childcare services provided in the market are mainly specialized childcare institutions, kindergartens and some early education classes. In terms of business forms, it is mainly private, and there are few childcare services in public kindergartens.
The reporter visited many places in Beijing and found that the special childcare institutions charge about 7,000 yuan a month, and if there is an outdoor activity place, the price will rise by 3,000 yuan, reaching 10,000 yuan a month. The fees charged by private childcare institutions in Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu and other places have also remained at this level.
Childcare expenses are a big expense for most families, and the high fees make many families prohibitive. "3,000 to 4,000 yuan is more in line with my expectations, and some childcare institutions charge seven or eight thousand yuan at every turn through publicity gimmicks and selling points, which is difficult to accept." Ma Jintong, a parent who lives in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, told reporters.
Some of the childcare institutions visited by the reporter live in the shopping mall, and the publicity photos on "scientific parenting", "boutique small classes" and "foreign teacher teaching" point to "pay attention to the healthy development and functional development of children's brains in critical periods".
"Before the child enters school, we will conduct a multi-dimensional balance assessment to test the ability to integrate feelings in an all-round way. Help children smoothly pass through various sensitive periods and learn to express and control emotions. The main teacher of day-care early education in Haidian told reporters, "These are not what family care can provide." ”
In the relatively high-priced nursery schools, there are foreign teacher courses. Industry insiders told reporters, "If there is a foreign teacher, the charging grade can be improved a lot." Therefore, many childcare institutions are happy to invite foreign teachers to join, behind which is a difficult to calculate cost account."
The operating costs of childcare institutions have always been a mystery to the outside world.
"Costing is very important, but it's also difficult to calculate the true costs." Wang Lingyan introduced that in the usual sense, the cost of childcare institutions mainly includes personnel expenditure, public expenditure and capital expenditure. In large cities, the cost of rent is too high, pushing prices high. However, the treatment of employees is not high. "At present, the quality of employees in childcare institutions is uneven, the overall quality is not high, and the level of treatment is also limited. This also shows that there are a large number of gaps in the cultivation of teachers in childcare institutions. ”
How much does a childcare facility cost to meet parents' expectations? Wang Lingyan introduced: "Reasonable itself has a certain degree of subjectivity, but from the perspective of the actual needs of parents, the vast majority of parents need inclusive childcare services with reasonable fees and basic guarantees of quality."
"Up to now, there is no unified consensus on the identification standards and charging guidance prices for 'inclusive' in the implementation of the whole country and in various places, and even the standards for inclusive kindergartens that have been implemented for many years are different." Hong Xiumin said.
Nearby universal childcare is the most popular, but not the only option
In April 2019, the General Office of the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of Infant and Child Care Services for Children Under 3 Years of Age, proposing to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of social forces and carry out infant and child care services in various forms.
After the introduction of the policy, the market reaction was obvious.
According to the data of enterprise investigation, there are currently 33,000 "childcare" related enterprises in China that are in operation and in existence. Before 2019, the number of childcare-related enterprise registrations grew slowly, with more than 12,000 new enterprises added in 2020, an increase of 237% year-on-year, which significantly exceeded the total number of registrations in the past decade.
At the press conference, Yang Wenzhuang also introduced that as of June 30, 2021, more than 4,000 institutions have passed the filing in the national childcare institution filing system of the National Health Commission, and more than 10,000 are actively applying.
In Shanghai, public kindergartens are also enrolling more and more kindergartens for children under 3 years old. This is because Shanghai's public services developed earlier, coupled with the decline in the birth population year by year, the original GSP kindergarten degree has been vacant. Hong Xiumin suggested: "All localities should promptly investigate and predict the different needs and characteristics of infant and child families under the age of 3 in terms of type, age, content, form, price, distance, etc., enhance on-demand supply and effective supply according to the actual situation, and strive to develop inclusive childcare nearby while continuing to expand the total supply of childcare." ”
"There is still a long way to go between the willingness to enter the care and the actual act of entering the care. In fact, the distance and high fees are certainly the influencing factors, but more important than these two, more than 40% of parents are more concerned about whether sending their children to childcare institutions can make people feel at ease. Hong Xiumin said.
"In the face of the variety of options for entering the nursery, parents are most satisfied with the nursery classes offered by public kindergartens. The paradox is that the number of public kindergartens accounts for a relatively small proportion of childcare services. Wang Lingyan admits that a reality is that in most areas, public kindergartens are not allowed to enroll children under 3 years old. At present, the main goal of developing pre-school education is still focused on achieving the admission of children aged 3 to 6 years old.
"The establishment and development of an inclusive childcare service system is policy-oriented, but for an ordinary family, sending children to childcare institutions is only a form of childcare education." Childcare services should be fully understood from the perspective of improving family science parenting skills. Wang Lingyan suggested that in the care of children under 3 years old, the core is to help them establish a stable dependency relationship and make them feel safe. Extend parental care time by giving more vacations, providing grandparents with convenient urban services, or organizing activities by communities to provide more infant and toddler care options.
(Reporter Chen Peng, correspondent of this newspaper, Zhang Shi)
Source: Guangming Daily