Beijing is banning kindergartens from charging admission fees and additional charges for special interest classes in its latest bid to crack down on overcharging.
A joint statement by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance said kindergartens would be prohibited from collecting fees in the form of sponsorships, donations, building funds or other charges as a precondition for enrolment.
They would also be forbidden from collecting extra fees for organising special interest groups, learning workshops, after-school training programmes or parenting classes.
Kindergartens will be allowed to charge fees for education, child care and accommodation, but fees for services provided by others should be collected on a voluntary basis and publicised regularly.
The foundation for kindergarten education on the mainland is still weak, an unidentified NDRC official was quoted as saying, and the public still felt strongly that it was difficult to get a child enrolled at a kindergarten and that they were expensive.
The lack of kindergartens has become increasingly acute in cities following a baby boom in recent years, and the central government only began to address the problem seriously in 2010. In July of that year it unveiled a blueprint for education development over the following 10 years that listed improving the poor state of kindergarten teaching on the mainland as its top priority. Three billion yuan (HK$3.7 billion) in subsidies were provided for kindergartens in central and western regions and areas with ethnic minorities.