Parents are struggling to pay rocketing kindergarten fees of no less than 7000 yuan per year, but at a forum held on September 24 in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, nursery school heads said they are only just managing to cover their costs.

Heads and parents at odds

Kindergarten heads say the price of their services-which include education-are reasonable when compared with the 10,000 yuan a year it would cost to employ a nanny to feed and look after a child at home.

Parents retort that everyone wants to send their child to kindergarten, so raising the issue of nannies is a red herring. In practice, everyone has to fork out the ever rising nursery school fees.

Public kindergartens strapped for cash

The manager of a publicly owned kindergarten in Wuhan's Qiaokou district said government money barely covers half the school's payroll costs; to raise the other two thirds of operating costs they have to charge for tuition.

"But the charges are fixed by the financial department," said another kindergarten manager from Hongshan district. "We make virtually zero profit."

Private kindergartens losing money

A year in a private nursery school will set parents back about 9,000 yuan. But despite high fees, many private nurseries are running at a loss due to low enrolment rates. "The high fees don't mean big profits; we just don't have enough pupils," said the head of a private nursery school in Wuchang.

Most private kindergartens have less than 300 infants, barely enough to break even.

Kindergarten costs more than university

Mrs. Song and her husband are a thrifty couple. Although they both work, they are eating into their savings to pay their daughter's kindergarten fees.

"Our combined salary is only 5,000 yuan per month. When you subtract housing and everyday living costs, it doesn't leave nearly enough to pay the 8000 yuan kindergarten fees," said Mrs. Song. "Kindergarten is more expensive than university. University fees are usually 6,000 yuan."

Government needs to spend more

Sun Mincong, professor of preschool education at Huazhong Normal University said the basic problem is lack of government financial support to nursery schools.

Most of the country's education budget is spent on 9 years of compulsory primary and secondary education, and on universities. Support for preschool education accounts for only 1.3 percent of the schools budget. Consequently kindergartens are forced to charge high fees to survive.

Sun said there are no short term solutions. Gradually increasing government financial support to preschool education is the only way forward.

(China.org.cn by Wu Huanshu, September 26, 2008)