Focus on pre-school education

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao this week stressed the importance of developing pre-school education during a visit to two kindergartens in downtown Beijing.
Wen said the government should increase investment in pre-school education and save enough space for kindergartens in urban planning schemes in order to narrow the shortfall of kindergartens.
Wen added that apart from infrastructures, attention should also be paid to pre-school teachers, including raising their salaries and social status and training more teachers to qualify for the job.
He also encouraged private investment in kindergartens, saying public and private kindergartens would have equal access to the same government policies. Wen urged private kindergartens to guarantee teachers’ welfare and pensions after retirement.
English.News.cn reported that China’s Ministry of Finance has announced it will allocate RMB56.63 billion (US$8.47 billion) from the central government budget to support a nine-year compulsory education in the country’s rural areas in 2011.