Beijing rolls out free preschool education
On Tuesday, the State Council released an implementation plan to roll out free preschool education.
Some context: The government introduced this initiative in its March Government Work Report.
- In late July, the State Council promised to kickstart the program pronto.
The details:
- Starting in September, fees for children in their final year of public kindergarten will be abolished.
- Those attending private kindergartens will receive equivalent fee subsidies.
The scope of the program will be expanded in the future – though no timeline has been given.
The central government will cough up the majority of subsidies, providing:
- 80% of funding for poorer western provinces
- 60% for provinces in central and northeastern China
- 50% for the remaining regions
Get smart: Preschool education fees vary widely across provinces – but based on an average monthly cost of ~RMB 500 and roughly 10 million children in their final year of kindergarten, this initiative could save households RMB 60 billion annually.
- A big chunk of that money will be spent on other goods and services, providing a modest boost to consumption.
Get smarter: The initial targeting toward children in their final year of kindergarten means the policy will have a negligible impact on birth rates, since new parents will have to wait up to six years before benefiting from free preschool education, at least for now.