OPINION> Commentary
High fees of kindergartens
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-08 07:27

Over-charging is just one of the problems plaguing kindergartens in China, and it cannot be rooted out only by issuing stipulations to unveil charging standards, says an article in Yangtze Evening Post. The following is an excerpt:

In response to the widespread criticism of excessively high fees collected by kindergartens, Xu Mei, the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Education, said the ministry is now on its way to promulgate stipulations on the charging standards for kindergartens.

Will the charging issue of kindergartens be that simple? Does the chaotic kindergarten education in China only lack the "charging standards"?

It is generally believed that kindergartens are expensive because of high tuition fees, high textbook fees, high fees for attending special classes and even fees for things like electricity, heating and air-conditioning.

We do not know yet whether the ministry will standardize only one of the charging items or all of them in a package. If the standards only specify tuition fees and textbook fees, we would find that the newly issued standards would be of little avail since kindergartens could still charge other fees at their will. Kindergartens would have lots of other ways to bypass this type of charging standards.

It is not at all a wild guess, but a proven fact. Looking through the documents, we may find that many provinces and cities have previously unveiled charging standards for kindergartens, but the fees have not been reduced due to these standards.

It might be necessary to guide the kindergartens in the overall planning of charging, but a sheer release of standards cannot solve the over-charging issue of kindergartens once and for all.

The education regulatory bodies should abandon the naive belief that standards can hold off over-charging in kindergartens.

(China Daily 09/08/2008 page4)