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A conference inaugurating national supervision and assessment of universal early childhood education at the county level was held on December 3, 2020 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Zheng Fuzhi, Vice Minister of Education and Chief Inspector of Schools, and Luo Qiang, Vice Governor of Sichuan Province, attended and addressed the conference.
Zheng Fuzhi stated that preschool education in China had witnessed historic progress and growth since the 18th CPC National Congress. The launch of national supervision and assessment of the universalization of preschool education at county level will mark a milestone in the reform and development of China’s early childhood education in the new era, helping to set clearer goals and leading examples as well as establish a more effective work mechanism.
He stressed the need to accurately assimilate four core elements of preschool education universalization by fulfilling 17 specific supervision and evaluation criteria in three dimensions. (1) Universal preschool attendance should be achieved, i.e. a gross enrollment rate of 85% for the entire preschool-education system with the coverage of kindergartens with universal access at 80% and the percentage of children attending public kindergartens at 50%. (2) School conditions must meet standards, including those for school buildings, facilities, teachers’ morality and capacity building, well-being of faculty and staff, and more. (3) A sound governance system must be put in place, to ensure implementation of supportive policies in terms of education spending per student in public kindergartens and subsidies for affordable private-run kindergartens. (4) Public recognition needed to be earned and maintained at a percentage of above 85% for the county-level popularization of preschool education.
Zheng also called for government accountability, steady progress in reform and innovation, and proper use of the supervision and assessment tools, in order to promote improvements in both quality and quantity of local preschool educational resources and substantively increase the sense of gain, happiness and security among people.
Luo Qiang talked about the next steps of preschool education universalization at the county level in Sichuan Province, and Pang Lijuan, Expert Group Leader for the national supervision and assessment and member of the NPC standing committee provided feedback and recommendations on behalf of the expert group.
Around 100 participants were present at the conference, including heads and chiefs of local education-related government agencies and relevant departments under the MOE. They conducted a field inspection prior to the conference at several kindergartens in Qingbaijiang District and Shuangliu District of Chengdu Municipality.