Tales of Two Cities:
Kindergarten Crunch hits Migrant Parents

Over the years, Liu Bo and his wife firmly believe that a happy life must a family of three people. Now he can still cherish his memory of the day when his baby girl was born. It was not long before this Hunan migrant family was full of confidence to start a new life in the metropolis of Guangzhou.

All of sudden, the problem came here.

Kindergarten crunch, a phenomenon happens in big Chinese cities where the scarcities of preschool places trigger record fees and has parents scrambling.

The crunch first happened in a few state-owned kindergartens, and then on to many more private kindergartens, now some cottage nurseries are overcrowded. And it costs more to send a child to kindergarten today than it does to put him or her through state college.

No More Children are allowed
For Liu Bo, a migrant worker who runs a sidewalk snack booth in Chisha Village, Haizhu district, Guangzhou. And Yangyang, his three-years-old girl at the preschool age, there isn’t a suitable kindergarten for them in the village.

“Not until my wife went to pick up our child from kindergarten and found worms and pebbles in their food twice,” Liu, cradling his girl, said. “I sent my child to the Chi Sha Kindergarten nearby, which was started by private organizers. The next day I took her home.”

As a village inside a city, Chisha, not so long ago became an inhabitation where the majority of the “residents” were migrant workers. Thousands of those workers pour into the megacity to pursue a better life, better medical care, and, a solid education.

By the end of 2010, there were approximately 90,000 migrant workers living in the Chisha village, according to the village government, and their monthly income just ranges from one to two thousand renminbi ($152 to 304). Also, lots of them, similar to Liu Bo, go to the city with their whole family.

Now the city with the help of the workers has progressed with each passing day, but it epitomizes something grim: How rising migrant families and their children deal with the truth that “there have more children than it should have kindergartens.”

Virtually, the village has kindergartens and many cottage nurseries started by private organizers. Two of them are relatively bigger: one is Chi Sha, the other one which was overcrowded is Hai Yan.

“We applied the Hai Yan Kindergarten in the beginning of July, but now it is October. Three months later no more can enroll or join a class,” he said.

Giving attention to both his business and finding a new school for Yangyang, Liu Bo spared no effort to find a kindergarten during the three months taken child home.

“Indeed the cottage nursery used to be a choice. But when a minibus came to take your child which usually foist into about 20 children, even the basic security those cottage nursery cannot guarantee, would you agree to send your child there?” he asked.

According to the Guangzhou education authorities, there have more than 1,500 multiform kindergartens in the 8 districts by the end of 2010, and the state owned one is less than 130 which just occupied 7.8%. Preschool education in Guangzhou now is dominated by private capital--- some are legal, but many more not.

Especially for the cottage nursery, since they usually establish and develop from local condition, charge low, provide targeted and flexible services and their location are convenient for parents to shuttle. They are emerged as the times require, but bored with the inevitable “hurts.”

Chisha village for instance, most of cottage nurseries there are located in the simple and crude family house, provide the simple education tools, lack of teachers or baby sitters. Some of them share the children’s exercise yard with the kitchen.

Leave Kindergarten like Off Duty from Factory
“Honestly, I just want a place to take care of my child when I am busy in the restaurant now,” a father said impatiently. “As a worker, I am not even asking for education quality, but a shelter which is safe.”

Lin Shuisheng, from Sichuan province, a migrant worker and also a custodian, cooks in a Sichuan restaurant in Shipai, Tianhe district, another village inside this city.

“I don’t want to cause my parents trouble in my hometown in Yaan, and my wife now is a full-time servant in a family in Chengdu. So, Xiao Jun fallows me to Guangzhou,” said Lin Shuisheng, taking care of his son.

“People come and go, and most of time I am too busy to take care of Xiao Jun,” said Lin, who looks at least 5 years younger than his 27.

“Once a waitress was within an inch of scalding him pouring out the tea,” he said.

His son, Lin Jun is a 4-year-old naughty boy with big eyes. He was brought to his father’s workplace in the beginning weeks, before his father recognized the importance to find a kindergarten.

In Shipai, the flourishing village in center of Guangzhou City, where located one of the only three state owned kindergartens in Tianhe district ---the Kindergarten Affiliated to Southern China Normal University (SCNU Kindergarten).

It is a kindergarten has complete facilities, qualified teachers and advanced education concept, by where children are provided with the study room of tropical plants, the lessons of ceramics and ikebana.

However, accompanied with those fancy facilities and high educational quality, outsiders applying to the SCNU Kindergarten also have to deal with a large sum of so called “sponsorship fee” (the money donated to the kindergarten secures a place in it) and pressure of limited quota of children.

Now the sponsorship fee scale of the provincial level key kindergarten such as the SCNU Kindergarten or the Huhuang Street Kindergarten in Guangzhou range from 15,000 to 20,000 renminbi ($2,285 to 3,050) a year, and usually they just have quotas of about 200 ---according to an analysis conducted by the Zheng Cheng College of SCNU.

“They asked twenty-thousand renminbi sponsorship fees for a year. I even dare to inquire about it,” said Lin Shuisheng, a cook and also a father who just earn about 3,000 renminbi ($460) a month, “Even if there is opportunity, there is no chance for a migrant child.”

The 4-years-old boy as mute as a fish, but he tries to put his hands way up high to show a new tiny toy, the situation seems not influence the fingerling as much as his father.

“Anyway, I find a kindergarten for him finally,” Lin said with a deep sigh.

The kindergarten is Nanyue Kindergarten, a kindergarten started by a private organizer and in the second floor of a residential building inside the Shipai village.

Even if there is no exercise yard, no dorm for naps, no independent kindergarten gate, without sponsorship fee, of about 300 reminbi ($300) a child per month also help the kindergarten attract about 80 children, include Xiao Jun.

The kindergarten gate sits in the staircase of the first floor, and frequently teachers use a table to separate the kindergarten and the outside. When parents come to take their child, the teacher will hold a microphone and say, "xxx, please go downstairs."

“They are leave kindergarten just like the worker off duty from factory,” Lin Shuisheng said.

Guangzhou, Zero Fiscal Input in Private Kindergarten
The non-government founded education always a part of the elementary education in Guangdong province recent years, and they growing rapidly.

According to the Southern Metropolitan News report, there have 8464 non-government founded secondary, primary schools and kindergartens which got approval or were issued by the Guangdong government in the end of 2007, which includes 6,941 private kindergartens, and about 1 million children involved.

However, in terms of the fiscal input, especially for the preschool education, Guangdong government input is in desperate shortage.

“In a western country, the government usually takes the 80% of the preschool educational expenditure, and the parents take 20%,” said Wu Han, a member of the CPPCC Guangdong committee, who recently handed in a draft resolution about the kindergarten crunch in Guangdong during the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

“Government, at all levels in Guangdong, should make sure the proportion of the expenditure, and make it in the budget, but we do not,” Wu added.

Guangzhou for instance, in 2008, the government invested 2.01 hundred million renminbi ($30.7million) to preschool education which just takes 1.37% educational expenditure of that year.

Compared with Shanghai, Tianjin, invested 25.95 hundred million ($396milliion) and 3.62 hundred million ($40.1million) reminbi, one is 13 times and the other is 1.8 times of it, based on the Dayoo Net.

Another hand, the standard of the state-owned kindergarten nursery fee in Guangzhou has not changed since 2000 (provincial level kindergarten 270 reminbi per month), which let the state-owned kindergartens apply for more financial subsidies.

Consequently, because of the shortage of the government input, the state owned kindergartens still needs budgetary allocations. When up to the private kindergarten, the government scarcely has any fiscal input.

According to the analysis conducted by China Association for Promoting Democracy in Guangdong, in the 8 districts of Guangzhou the government preschool educational expenditure for the 1300 private kindergartens was zero in 2010.

When the increasing kindergarten crunch happening in this booming country everyday. In Guangzhou, many migrant parents got familiar with pet phrases refer to the crunch like “whooping sponsorship fee,” “scare school place,” and “cottage nursery is illegal.”

So as the situation in Guangzhou, the kindergarten crunch also occurred in Beijing, l. Although, the kindergarten crunch in the capita is no different with Guangzhou in most of parts, still there have some different in some parts.

Mama, Where to Go Tomorrow?
July and August are well known as the months when the annual hunt for places in kindergartens, or cottage nurseries, takes place in Beijing.

On 9 August 2010, about a hundred anxious migrant parents and their children were waiting outside the Red Sun Kindergarten in the Xi Lufa village, Wei Shanzhuang town, Beijing. Those parents were not familiar with the way to find a place to give their offspring an ever-earlier competitive advantage.

Instead, there are massive line-ups outside the kindergarten, waiting for an explanation. Three days earlier, when they brought their children they found the door locked and two seals on it.

Continually, they found the name of the kindergarten on the news report of the Jinghua Times, with the title of “Education Department Forced the Closure of an Illegal Kindergarten, Cause Conflicts”.

“Without any notice or inform to us, the education department of the town just close the kindergarten whenever they like,” filled with righteous indignation, said one migrant father, Mr.Chen.

He began last June to look for a kindergarten and fund the Red Sun for his 2-year- old boy at the beginning of this month, “I just give the nursery fee a week ago.”

Another migrant mother, Mrs,Wang said, “My child were send to the Red Sun for several months, I don’t see any thing different, this kindergarten with the other one, illegal? Are they sure? ” She also looks like be on thorns.

The Red Sun Kindergarten, one of the two kindergartens in the Xi Lufa villag, was established at the end of 2008 by a Henan migrant family, He Gang and his wife Zheng Chengpin.

At the entrance to the Xi Lufa village, the Red Sun is easily found by anyone who comes by. Consisting of ten bungalows, a basketball court and activity yard, the kindergarten had 5 classrooms, 3 children’s dorms, and 2 offices.

After a few years of management, the kindergarten was of some note in the village and had about 100 children. However, due to the issue, the cheerful chatting and laughing of children are replaced by broken windows, benches and unusual silence.

“It was the time children almost leave school, and all of sudden, there were about ten people with uniforms rushing into the kindergarten, and put me on the ground,” said Zheng Chengpin, not yet over the scare, and recalled. “My husband take the camera and rush out, the camera was taken by them and thrown away.”

The closing was witnessed by some parents.

“I saw the headmistress was put down on the ground, I want to help but they are so fierce,” said Mrs. Jin who went to take her grandson that day. Then she went to find her 3 year-old grandson, who was hugging with other two children and trembling in a corner of the classroom.

The education department replied that the Red Sun Kindergarten did not register in the existing formal education system and exists with potential security problems. The coercive closing is due to the department had warned the kindergarten to close voluntarily time-after-time.

Since there were only two kindergartens in the village, closing up the Red Sun forced a hundred migrant families and children into a crisis.

“I have inquired that there isn’t another one hundred place to our children in another kindergarten,” Mrs. Wang added, “I even don’t know how to answer my daughter ‘Mama, where to go tomorrow?’”

A Hope for Migrant Families in Hutong
In another corner of the city, there have a general market, in Xichen districts. It was not until a team of Beijing Normal University (BNU) teachers and students did preschool research in this market and built up a games group.

The situation will still hundred general markets inside the Forth Ring Road in the capital, and thousands of migrant children without normal preschool education play in those noisy and chaotic markets, Xie Yuxin is one of them.

Xie Yuxin, a 3-year-old boy, whose parent run a clothing booth in the Run Deli market. To him and his little fellows in the market, now they are more fortune than other migrant children, since they have a games group.

The BNU students initiated the games group called Sihuan Games Group which established at 7th April of 2004. Located in Hutongs and streets near the market, Sihuan Group is a nonprofit and voluntary kindergarten for migrant families.

In the relatively stable period, the games group has 33 children. Guided by two voluntary teachers and a parent each day, the games group has activities ranging from reading, paper-cut to visiting a museum.

“They were showing up at the time we most need,” said Xie Yunxin’s mother, who spends most of her time selling clothing. “We can not find a kindergarten, only way is let him play in the chaotic market.”

At that time, in the market, there were about 28 migrant children who could not find a kindergarten. Meanwhile, their parents are too busy to deal with business, and could not look after them.

“Dozens of children run and play in the market place, during the first time we came and did research,” recalled Li Xiangyu, one of the students who initiated the games group and now is the voluntary teacher, “leading by Professor Zhang Yan. “We interview migrant parents one-by-one, she encouraged us to built up the games group.”

At the outset, BNU students as voluntary teachers, play with children in the open-air of the market administration’s yard. Due to the unremitting efforts from those voluntary teachers, the staff of the market administration offered a free warehouse to the games group.

From that time on, the Sihuan Group had a fixed learning and exercising place. Voluntary teachers and migrant parents redecorated the warehouse, put in the desks and chairs, and put on the small blackboard, most of the preschool age children in the market were learning to join the games group.

According to the Beijing Youth Daily, by 2007, the Sihuan Games Group was listed in the pilot project to protect migrant children in community by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Office of the Working Committee on Children and Women of the state council.

“There was a time Sihuan Group saw certain hope,” said Zhang Yan, the professor of preschool education in BNU, who is the initiator and the advisor of Sihuan Group, “But not long, students still felt it beset with difficulties.”

During the Sihuan Games Group raise to fame, the irrefutable truth that Sihuan is a kindergarten without qualification, and non-formal. In 2008 and 2009, due to the SARS and the H1N1 flu, Sihuan Group was shut off twice, but resume under parents’ strong demand.

“Now we are pursuing Sihuan to be a Non Government Organization (NGO) which can raise money from the society to help those children,” said Li Xiangyu, her and her schoolmates do lots of efforts after the group had been shut off, “another hand, to be NGO you should have money to rent site for operation. It’s a dilemma.”

However, lot of violent events occurred in kindergartens in different place since 2010. So, to enhance and guarantee children’s security, the market administration had to “indefinitely” shut off the Sihuan Games Group in July.

Those 33 children were once again sent back to the Run Deli market. “Anyway, we are waiting for the return of the Sihuan Group,” said Xie Yuxin’s mother, “I have been interviewed by some TV stations to support them. Sihuan Games Group is still a hope for us.”

Beijing, Spring Up of the Informal Kindergartens
Compared with some registered kindergartens or state owned kindergartens, the kindergartens or cottage nurseries which not registered in the existing formal education system are always categorized into informal kindergarten.

Informal kindergartens usually establish and develop from local condition, charge low, provide targeted and flexible services and their location are convenient for parents, especially migrant parents to shuttle.

According to the Beijing education authorities’ data released in 2009, by the end of that year, there were 1,298 informal kindergartens in the urban and rural junction in the capital, which twice the size of formal kindergarten.

The rise of the informal kindergartens in Beijing has complicated and diverse “contributing factors.” Other than the pressure from waves of migrant families with their children pouring into the city, the high costs of formal kindergartens force a dramatic demand of low-end private preschools is another unavoidable factor.

It is nearly impracticable, according to migrant parents and teachers, to find a formal kindergarten in a capital that charges less than 1,000 renminbi ($150) a month. As matter of fact, the average salary of migrant workers in Beijing, according to the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions, just 2,000 renminbi ($300) per month, the formal kindergarten costs take a half of it.

Also by comparison, tuition and accommodation at Peking University, Tsinghai University, or Renmin University, the best higher education in China, costs only about 700 renminbi ($102) a month, which means the formal kindergarten costs more than university.

Still, in the context of quota shortage in the state owned kindergarten, a huge demand for privately run kindergartens make sure they can charge what they like for so called highly variable services. Some charge five times that, dampening down one of the few chances that migrant families have.

The Education Department of the Beijing city government, the Beijing education authorities are struggling to change the awkward situation, but without much success. They try to enlarge the class sizes in the state owned kindergarten, from 35 to 40, to add more quotas and invest more money to ease the formal kindergarten costs.

But even that will leave a quarter of a million preschool age children in Beijing without quotas in the formal kindergarten, and most of those children are believe come from migrant family, according to a recent report by the Beijing Academy of Educational Science.

Where are those children to go? The informal kindergartens spring up in response to the time and conditions.

Ways and Ideas to Solve the Problem
In a country which the economic aggregate ranks second in the world, but education input just take 3.41% of GDP, says China’s Minister of Education, lists in the bottom compare with other countries. While, the government project on primary and secondary school is way above preschool education. There have adequate reason to change it.

Premier Wen Jiabao in July 2010 ordered officials to solve the kindergarten crunch nationwide. Beijing government promised to spend 4,840 million renminbi ($737 million) over five years building 118 new kindergartens and enlarging 300 more.

Furthermore, China wants to boost the number of children taking three years of preschool to 75% in 2020 from 51% in 2009.

“Preschoolers will jump from 26 million to 40 million, mostly in the state-run kindergartens that appeal to the many parents who cannot afford the booming, but more expensive private sector,” reported the American media USA Today.

Besides the government fiscal effort, during the National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference 2011, members of the CPPCC handed in draft resolutions that pursue the support from government policy.

“I suggest bring the preschool into compulsory education,” said Zhang Litian, the CPPCC member from Guangdong, “the preschool education itself has character of universality, should benefit most people.”

In recent three years, as the CPPCC member Zhang handed in the daft resolution about kindergarten crunch three times.

“We noticed that government began to pay attention to the crisis, it’s a good thing. If we can not bring it into the compulsory in a short term, at least, we should put it on the government fiscal plan,” he added.

However, in a demographically booming China, where have millions of children, even the compulsory education implement in primary and secondary school spend more than 20 years.

Still, in many rural areas in China, the compulsory education has enormous resources for teachers and a financing gap until now. So the preschool education simply depend on the government is far and away enough.

In the context of difficult admission to kindergarten and high charges for kindergarten, in the urban and rural junction, a lot of unregistered kindergartens and cottage nurseries emerged is best evidence and an inconvenient truth.

“Kindergarten crunch in terms of the migrant parents now is more a social problem than an education problem,” expressed Professor Zhang Yan. “Facing the increasingly prominent demand of migrant parents, we need to recognize the value of unregistered kindergartens and cottage nurseries for the society.”

Zhang serves as the professor of BNU preschool education, also as the initiator and the advisor of Sihuan Games Group, she has been devoted to the management of kindergarten and migrant families’ preschool education for years.

Appeal to the media, Professor Zhang raised that to solve the current problem society should rectify prejudice to the informal education.

“We should change concepts and functions of the government to carry out institutional innovation, provide policy support for low-end private preschools, so as to advance diversified development of preschool education,” she said.

On another hand, the Sihuan Games Group got some media attention. For everyone who, when asked about the Sihuan Games Group, would speak not just of the efforts that the BNU students and the migrant parents contributed, but regard Sihuan as a new form for Chinese preschool education.

“Sihuan Games Group is a kind of informal education, is a reflection of informal education based on practice,” said Zhang. “But it also has many differences with other informal education.

“Other than government and private capital, to solve the kindergarten problem, especially target to migrant family, there should have a third social force. A third social force, by which I mean the commonweal, Sihuan is an attempt.”

The commonweal kindergartens which provide free service to those migrant families, like Sihuan Games Group is a new explore. Basing on the practice and appeal, increasing commonweal kindergarten or cottage nurseries should and will be built.

Consequently, to solve the kindergarten crunch, whether the government supports, the private capital inputs, or the commonweal contributes are not that much important, but increasing people, experts, and officials’ concern and determination to make changes.

How did things go?
Until now, kindergarten crunch still has Liu Bo and his girl stands in the middle of nowhere. Yangyang play in the sidewalk snack booth with her parents from day to night, it has been several months since she was taken home in October.

“I let her stay home in my hometown Zhuzhou, Hunan, when we went back home for Chinese New Year,” Liu Bo said, feeling helpless. “My sister now is helping me find a kindergarten in Zhuzhou for Yangyang.”

Also, in the Shipai village, Lin Shuisheng as usual sends and picks up his Lin Jun to the “kindergarten” day-by-day. “There have someone inspect last month, so the kindergarten closed for three days, then things get right.”

In Beijing, the Red Sun Kindergarten in the Xi Lufa village is still closed. Those 100 children some were sent to another kindergarten, some went with their parents to the work site, even though the local education department promised to settle them.

For the Sihuan Games Group, while the market administration sticks out the notice to “indefinitely” shut off it, Li Xiangyu and her schoolmates persist in opening the group secretly for the migrant parents half a day.

Until January of 2011, the Games Group funded a 160 square meters bungalow in a corner of Da Banjie Hutong, which cost 6,800 renminbi per month. Luckily, the Games Group got a donation for the hours rent from a private school, the 33 children get chance to return to the classroom, according to the Beijing Youth Net.

“Though we have to pay 170 renminbi ($26) a child per month for house rent, we are happy to see that the Games Group is officially open again.”