VA
Insights

Preschool education, along with a wider definition of Early Child Development (ECD), is critical to human development. Neuroscience and longitudinal studies find that both positive and negative experiences in early life of the first six years including prenatal stage influence the development of the brain and biological systems for life. PISA test scores for 15-year-old students who had received at least one year of preschool education were significantly higher across the developing and developed worlds. Investments in ECD are among the most cost-effective strategies to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty, improve productivity, and sustain competitiveness in the long run.

In China, both the metropolitan and rural communities are faced with challenges in preschool education. Urban cities lack sufficient public kindergartens due to limited budget allocation, while private ones charge significantly higher tuition. Children of migrant workers are even more marginalized at access to preschool education resources. In rural regions, the enrolment rate at kindergartens drops to below 30 percent, along with a large decrease of overall number of kindergartens, and an imbalanced teacher-to-student ratio.

NGOs and social enterprises play a critical role in addressing these issues. Beijing Sihuan Game Group is one of them. It was first founded in 2004 to offer informal preschool education to children from migrant workers’ families around Sihuan area, where there is a large market with a great number of migrant workers who cannot afford to send their children to kindergartens. The founder is Zhang Yan, professor of Preschool Education Department at Beijing Normal University. Students from the department volunteered to teach and organize games and activities for these children. Parents are also required to take shifts of half day per week to teach for the Group. In terms of cost, parents only need to pay 200 yuan per month to cover rent of the classrooms.

From this case, we see the urgent needs of people living in the marginalized communities, and the great contribution of grassroot NGOs and social enterprises. Yet, these organizations still face various challenges, including finance, registration, management model, the coverage and extent of the impact, etc.

Venture Avenue, aiming at empowering the philanthropy sector in China, has conducted an evaluation of a program focusing on preschool education. AEA is an international not-for-profit organization that works on community development through education including preschool education. They started a Pre-School Education and Culture Center in Dongma Village, Sichuan Province, in order to provide an educational space in rural areas where primary education is marginalized, and further to support community development and cultural preservation. AEA partnered with Huangyuan Ecology and Culture Association and local government to ensure the operation of the program.

Looking into the impact of the project, we have observed that AEA’s project has achived the following outcomes: positive feedbacks from parents and community for the free pre-school education provided for the first three years; trainings for teachers, parents and the community on the notion and model of integrating culture preservation into education; improved community cohesiveness through regular cultural activities with high participation rate; and government engagement and research as a result of the project. In VA’s view, the key success factor of the project is that its management used a participatory approach and it was localized based on the unique cultural environment.

Meanwhile, LaoNiu Foundation, a leading family foundation in China has established two very unique Children’s Museum in Beijing and Hohhot of Inner Mongolia. Different from traditional museum, these two museums are facilitated with interactive and experience-based displays. The purpose is to inspire Children to learn through active participation.

It is very exciting to see both local and international charitable organizations like Beijing Sihuan Game Group, AEA and LaoNiu Foundation, are making their utmost efforts on providing quality preschool education for all children in China. VA will continue our focus on these children’s needs, as well as the NGOs, social enterprises, and foundations that are undertaking the mission of responding to such needs. We look forward to working with these organizations to improve their effectiveness and maximize their impact.