China adopts new law to better protect preschool children

BEIJING -- Chinese lawmakers on Friday voted to adopt the preschool education law to protect the legitimate rights and interests of preschool children.

Consisting of 85 articles in nine chapters, the law, which was passed at a session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the national legislature, will take effect on June 1, 2025.

Preschool education is an integral part of the national education system and an important social public welfare undertaking, the new law reads. It specifies that the development of preschool education should be placed under government guidance, primarily through government-run institutions, with a focus on vigorously developing inclusive preschool education.

The law is conducive to ensuring that every preschool child can enjoy fair and quality education, and obtain a more comprehensive development opportunity, said Hong Xiumin, head of the Institute of Early Childhood Education of Beijing Normal University.

The law stipulates that a guarantee mechanism should be set up to enhance the accessibility of preschool education, thus establishing a public service system for preschool education that covers urban and rural areas, with reasonable layout, universal benefits, safety and quality.

It also asks governments at all levels to assume the responsibility of allocating education resources in accordance with the law, giving priority to ensuring the supply of preschool education resources in rural, remote and underdeveloped areas, to ensure that children in disadvantaged and remote areas enjoy equal opportunities to receive education.

Recent data from the Ministry of Education (MOE) highlights the progress already made in this regard. Last year, nearly 40.93 million children were enrolled in kindergartens in China, accounting for 91.1 percent of all preschool-aged children.

And the regional gap is narrowing. Statistics from the MOE show that from 2013 to 2023, all 17 provincial-level regions that saw kindergarten enrollment rates increase by over 20 percentage points were in the country's less-developed central and western parts.

The law stipulates that localities where conditions permit should promote free preschool education, to lower the cost of childcare and education for families.

Such provisions will help effectively reduce the cost of family childcare, bring a real sense of gain and happiness to the parents of preschool children, and better serve the national population quality development strategy, said Liang Huijuan, head of the preschool education department of Tianjin Normal University.

The law establishes comprehensive provisions on safety management to ensure the full protection of children's physical and mental health and safety while they are in kindergarten, such as improving safety measures and emergency response mechanisms, and enhancing health-care work.

"Seeing the safety protections for our children in kindergartens clearly outlined in the law gives us parents greater peace of mind," said a young mother surnamed Guo in Hebei Province.