Kindergarten More Important Than College In China

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - A spike in China’s birthrate in 2007 is now putting pressure on kindergartens, according to ABC News .

The network reports that Beijing’s 2007 birthrate jumped 25 percent from the year before, reaching the highest total in two decades.

Beijing education authorities have increased class sizes from 35 to 40 and added classrooms for another 12,000 children. There is talk of adding another 12,000 in the near future.

However, a recent report by the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences suggests that a quarter of a million kindergarten-age children in the city will remain without places.

Hao Jianqiu, headmistress of Donghuamen kindergarten near the Forbidden City, said parents are paying more attention to preschool, repored ABC.

"The good thing is that parents spend more today on preschool" Ms. Hao adds. "The bad thing is that it puts huge pressure on the children."

The China Internet Information Center , which reported on a similar increase in 2007 births in Shanghai, suggested that 2007 led to a spike in the number of babies because it was the Chinese Year of the Pig, considered by many couples to be a lucky year to have children.

The shortage of places in public schools has created high demand for privately run kindergartens. Parents and teachers said that finding a reputable kindergarten in Beijing that charges less than 1,000 renmimbi or $150 a month is almost impossible. Some charge five times that.

Meanwhile, ABC News reported that tuition and lodging at Peking university is about 700 renmimbi or $102 a month.