China Early Child Development : Early Childhood Education in Yunnan

World Bank

Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO PRESCHOOL;    ACHIEVEMENTS;    ANNUAL FEES;    AVERAGE EDUCATIONAL LEVEL;    BASIC EDUCATION;   

RP-ID  :  ACS6915

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Yunnan is a medium-sized and relativelypoor Chinese province on the southwestern border of China.In 2012, the Yunnan department of education formallyrequested Bank support in conducting a review of earlychildhood education policies and programs in order to gainan in-depth and evidence-based understanding of thechallenges the province faces in expanding early childhoodeducation-in particular to rural and mountainous regions.The Bank's China education team embarked on raisingfunds, designing and implementing a rather elaborateresearch agenda around early childhood education. The goalwas to investigate key challenges, and to propose policyinterventions for expanding the Early Child Development(ECD) coverage in rural Yunnan. This report presents thefindings from the background studies, and draws potentialpolicy implications for improving the access to and qualityof preschool education in Yunnan province. China has nowalmost achieved universal 9-year basic education. Over thelast decade, the country has devoted increasing attention topolicy development in early childhood education. Even thoughChina does not yet have a specific early childhood educationlaw, it has established a rather elaborate set of guidelinesand regulations pertaining to early childhood education.Early childhood education has expanded significantly withinthe last few years. There are two main types of preschoolprograms for 3-6 year olds including: a regular 3-yearprogram which is called kindergarten, and a one-year programattached usually to primary schools. The rapid growth ofpreschool teacher supply has contributed to the drop inpupil-teacher ratios across the nation. In Yunnan inparticular, the ratio has decreased from approximately 30 to20 in recent years. However, urban areas still enjoy a morefavorable pupil-teacher ratio, as well as a higherproportion of qualified teachers compared to rural areas.Rural areas account for 50 percent of total preschoolenrollment, but only 22 percent of all trained teachersserve in rural areas.