School's in for summer as day care classes blossom

This summer vacation, Guo Qile, a third grader in Shanghai, attended classes almost every day. Despite this, Qile enjoyed it a lot.

"The teachers are so nice, and I have many friends here to play with. I'm having so much fun!" Qile says.

What Qile attends is actually a day care program initiated by a local community. In Shanghai, these programs are being offered across the city this summer vacation.

In 2021, with the support of the government, many students went back to school during summer vacation－not for regular classes but for activities such as watching films, group games and painting.

Summer vacation day care, a new option for busy parents, became a trend this year after central education authorities mobilized to offer more choices for school-age students during the seasonal break.

In early July, the Ministry of Education issued a notice asking local authorities to encourage qualified schools to provide these child care services.

Solid progress was made in many places, including Shanghai, for example. From July 5 to Aug 13, 543 day care programs were set up across the city, benefiting nearly 40,000 students. Among the programs, 407 were held on school campuses.

Similar programs have been in place for years in many areas, with encouragement from local education departments.

Since 2017, the Jiyang district of Sanya, Hainan province, has set up public welfare summer child care courses. The courses have been well received by parents, many of whom are migrant workers with no time to look after their children, says an official with the district's education bureau.

"Small children aren't able to look after themselves, and as a parent, it is unnerving to leave them at home alone," says Li Yan from Shandong province.

From Li's perspective, day care programs provided by schools are a great solution.

To meet the needs of more parents, the scale of the child care program in the Jiyang district has expanded year by year, with the number of participating students increasing from 600 in the first year to more than 2,600 this year.

The country's education authorities have stipulated that day care programs ought to be, in their nature, a public service that doesn't put a heavy financial burden on parents. Organizers across the country have strictly adhered to this principle.

For instance, in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, a summer vacation day care service is provided at a reasonable price of 50 yuan ($7.7) per day. Students from families dealing with financial difficulties can attend day care courses for free.

With day care programs gaining popularity, their organizers are pooling the efforts of society to boost the quality of the services they provide.

In Shanghai, this summer, more than 12,000 college student volunteers were recruited, and each of them attends to no more than five children, ensuring that all children receive adequate attention and care.

For the future development of school vacation day care services, there is still room for improvement, experts say.

"Organizers of day care programs should be familiar with the traits of students at different ages and understand what they need most," says Yao Zongling, the headmaster of a middle school in Tai'an, Shandong province.

Yao proposed dividing children into different groups based on their age and abilities and to design courses accordingly, instead of organizing one-size-fits-all activities.

In the meantime, having their children attending day care programs doesn't mean parents are free from their responsibilities, says Lyu Yugang, an official with the Ministry of Education. He calls on parents to balance their children's day care and leisure hours.