幼儿园教小学课程?新法律拟禁止丨Draft law not enough to curb studies burden

On Monday, the Ministry of Education published the draft of the preschool education law on its website to solicit public opinion.

Of all the clauses, the one attracting most attention is the one forbidding kindergartens from teaching kids or holding activities that exceed their psychological and/or physiological development stage.

The idea is to curb competition at a very young age, as also ease the pressure on parents who fear their children might fall behind in studies. Many kindergartens impart knowledge on kids, convincing their parents that three years later their children will have an edge over others in primary school.

That trend has imposed a heavy burden on preschool kids, especially when there are limits to how much knowledge kids can imbibe at a time. Besides, putting pressure on kids ahead of time will only kill their zeal to learn.

That is why the draft law is very significant. However, on social networking sites, many parents called it "impractical". That is because teaching ahead of time is not limited to kindergartens. It exists in primary, middle and high schools, too. There is always pressure on the children to excel to get into a better higher-level institution. To prepare them for these challenges, sometimes even schools teach them what they need not learn till they go to a higher class.

To make this ban effective, the authorities should tweak the laws on compulsory and high school education. Otherwise, the kindergarteners will be spared the learning burden for only three years.

Besides, some parents fear the ban might curb the malpractices in kindergartens, but not in extracurricular institutions. In fact, some kindergarten teachers themselves might organize extracurricular courses for children in private, and parents will send their children fearing they might otherwise miss the bus.

记者：张周项