How can mountain village kindergartens benefit more children?

Studies have proved that early childhood education can significantly improve the disadvantaged position of children's development and promote the realization of rural revitalization. By the end of 2020, there are still about 8 million school-age children in China who are not in kindergartens.

In order to get through the "last mile" of preschool education, China Development Research Foundation launched the "One Village, One Park: Mountain Village Kindergarten Plan" in 2009 (hereinafter referred to as the "One Village, One Park" plan) to provide free preschool education for children in rural areas.

In 2009, Xiaoguo, 17 years old, participated in the "One Village, One Garden" project and worked as a kindergarten teacher in Qijiabao, Ledu District, Qinghai Province.

This is the first time Xiao Guo has walked into the mountains.

Xiao Guo, who grew up in a clean factory and mine environment, suffered a heavy blow before he was happy with the local beauty: the classroom was a small bungalow with adobe and wooden frames, and the collapsed walls could be repaired with large and small stones. The window is against the newspaper, and the legs of the table are made of bricks. The so-called ringing the bell is to knock two hanging iron bumps.

Into the classroom, dim lights, bare wooden beams ... A gust of wind blew, yellow dust filled the sky, flew into the room along the gap in the newspaper, and also flew into Xiao Guo's heart, turning into disappointment and loss.

However, when she looked back and saw the innocent smiling faces and clear eyes of the children, tears finally flowed out uncontrollably. Xiaoguo decided to stay with these loveless children. From that day on, she began to live in the depths of the mountains: two days a week, she had to climb mountains and go in and out of the mountains.

This is 1 1 year.

Preschool teachers shoulder great responsibilities.

20 18 "Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform and Standardized Development of Preschool Education" clearly points out: "Running preschool education well and realizing preschool education is a major decision-making arrangement made by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a major livelihood project for the party and the government to do practical things for the people, and it is related to the healthy growth of hundreds of millions of children, social harmony and stability, and the future of the cause of the party and the state."

Lu Mai, former vice chairman of China Development Research Foundation, made an on-site investigation on the "One Village, One Park" project.

Rural areas have always been a shortcoming in the popularization of preschool education. In the past ten years, the "one village, one park" plan has covered 1 1 province (city) and 3 1 county, and established more than 3,000 mountain village kindergartens, benefiting about 200,000 rural children.

On February 28th, the seminar "One Village, One Garden: Teachers and Children of Preschool Education in Mountain Villages" organized by China Development Research Foundation was held online and offline simultaneously. At the seminar, preschool teachers and media spokespersons in mountain villages shared their thoughts and feelings about the past, present and future of preschool education in rural areas from their own experiences. Experts and scholars in related fields make suggestions for rural preschool education.

Some rural children are left-behind children or even single-parent families. As caregivers, the elderly themselves have a low level of education and do not pay attention to education, which leads to the slow development of many children ... In remote mountain villages, children will encounter various problems and difficulties in their growth. "The inferiority and introversion caused by long-term insecurity and care can be seen in every left-behind child. It takes time to solve such a problem. " A kindergarten teacher in the mountain village said.

The particularity of children's growing environment in mountain villages requires teachers to pay more patience and love to communicate with them. Through long-term companionship and communication, let them find problems, correct problems, and let local children grow up healthily.

Qijiabao Kindergarten, where Teacher Xiaoguo is located, is located at the top of the mountain. Every time she carries a cup of dry food, she climbs on her hands and feet, which is several kilometers away. The mountains are sparsely populated, and the cell phone has no signal at all. The road is full of deep pits left by flash floods, and the road is particularly difficult to walk. If you are not careful, you will fall and get hurt. The weather in the mountains is more unpredictable. Sometimes it rains cats and dogs when walking. It was a scorching sun when the clouds floated away, and there was no shelter on the road.

Every time she goes to school, panting, she wants to buy a "wow haha" drink for the first time. The sister who was with her laughed at her. Child as she is, she shoulders a great responsibility.

More than 40% children in underdeveloped areas

Access to higher education

In the "one village, one garden" plan, there are more than 3,000 kindergarten teachers like Xiaoguo, of whom nearly 93% are women. They are a group of people in the village who are unknown, diligent and conscientious in teaching their children. Most of them are between the ages of 20 and 35, and a few are older. Among them, 70% of them have college and undergraduate degrees.

In the quiet countryside, there are no vigorous stories, no ups and downs of life, and only ordinary trivial stories that these kindergarten teachers accompany the children are staged every day. In the slow flow of time, kindergarten teachers moisten children's barren hearts with love and patience. Children are also happier and feel more secure. The existence of these teachers makes up for the lack of love and care from parents in the process of children's growth to some extent.

These kindergarten teachers show eighteen kinds of martial arts: according to local conditions, carry out the ninth grade to let children know about plants; Hold parent-teacher meetings, strengthen the contact between home and school, and carry out parent-child interaction activities; Some teachers will teach Miao Xiu, Miao drum and Miao song into songs ... In Guzhang, Hunan, teachers will integrate traditional culture such as Miao Xiu, Miao drum and Miao song into their teaching. All the children here can sing Miao songs and some Miao drums.

Xiaoguo collects discarded cartons, bottles and cans in Qijiabao Kindergarten to make teaching AIDS. If there are no desks, try to find abandoned desks eliminated by primary schools. After sawing the table, the children's handmade desks were covered with plastic tablecloths.

"It is precisely because of the dedication and persistence of kindergarten teachers that rural children have made progress. This bit by bit progress has really affected the children's future. If we can attract the attention of all walks of life, better help them adhere to the cause of preschool education and expand rural preschool education to other underdeveloped areas, the rural revitalization we are pursuing now will be truly guaranteed. " Lu Mai, former vice chairman of China Development Research Foundation, said.

The China Development Research Foundation evaluated the children who implemented the 10 kindergarten project in Ledu District, Qinghai Province, where Xiaoguo was located. The results of Raven's intelligence test show that the intelligence of kindergarten children in mountain villages is higher than the national average, they have more prosocial behaviors, better psychological resilience and can better cope with setbacks. Lumai said: "This is very noteworthy. An important role of preschool education is to prevent children from having anti-social behavior in the future. It is better to give them more love now than to work in the future. These tasks are accomplished by kindergarten teachers. "

Also in Ledu District, from the analysis of the relationship between junior high school and preschool education, it can be seen that mountain village kindergartens have helped more than 40% children get the opportunity to receive higher education.

The three-year pre-school popularization rate in local pilot counties reached 90%.

Ten years have passed. At present, Xiao Guo, who is no longer young, has married and had children, and has become a child's mother from a little girl. And the more experience she has as a mother, the less she regrets her original decision. In her opinion, maybe youth will eventually pass away, but it can also be eternal. Years of wind and rain have given her a responsibility and made her more transparent.

Now, with the country paying more and more attention to preschool education, the environment of kindergartens has long been different from that of Xiaoguo when he was "frightened", but has undergone earth-shaking changes. "With the donations of foundations, government departments and social caring people, kindergartens in mountainous areas are getting better and better, and bright and spacious classrooms are well equipped. The infrastructure is complete: there are desks, bookcases, televisions and various teaching AIDS. There are also nutritional products that supplement children with nutrients and trace elements ... "Xiaoguo said.

"In recent years, with the increasing efforts of the country to get rid of poverty, local governments have attached importance to preschool education. In the early pilot counties of mountain village kindergartens, we obviously felt that infrastructure, teacher treatment and training have changed a lot. " Jin Fang, secretary-general of China Development Research Foundation, said that the hardware environment of many mountain village kindergartens has been improved obviously. At present, the local pilot counties have almost achieved the comprehensive coverage and promotion of the project, and the pre-school penetration rate has reached 90% in three years, achieving the goal of the "14 th Five-Year Plan" in 2025 ahead of schedule.

The Action Plan for the Development and Promotion of Preschool Education in the Tenth Five-Year Plan issued by the Ministry of Education in 20021requires that by 2025, the gross enrollment rate will reach over 90%, the coverage rate of inclusive kindergartens will reach over 85%, and the proportion of children in public parks will reach over 50%. A public preschool education service system covering urban and rural areas, with reasonable layout and strong public welfare.

At present, Jin Fang introduced that, inspired by the "one village, one park" plan of China Development Research Foundation, the slogan of "one village, one park, one child" has been put forward in all localities including Yunnan, Guizhou and Gansu provinces except the pilot counties.

Establishing a long-term investment mechanism requires the joint efforts of many departments.

"Children in compulsory education can go to schools in villages and towns by school bus or boarding, but children aged 3-6 in non-compulsory education are still too young. Regardless of the child's physical and mental development characteristics or economic burden, long-distance travel or boarding with family members by school bus is not ideal. " Jin Fang said, therefore, it is still necessary to solve the problem of pre-school education entering the village.

Despite the efforts of the government and the promotion of many social forces such as China Development Research Foundation, preschool education has also made some progress, but there are still some unsatisfactory places.

Lu Mai believes that there is still a big gap between China's economic investment in preschool education and foreign countries: the proportion of economic investment and per capita expenditure in preschool education in foreign countries are twice and eight times that in China, respectively, and the wages of kindergarten teachers in mountain villages are generally not high. "The monthly salary of preschool teachers in mountain villages is mostly between 2000 and 2500 yuan. Of the 24 pilot counties, only 3 counties have been supported by special funds for preschool education development, and the salaries of preschool teachers in other pilot counties are only supported by local governments and social forces. " Rumai said.

In view of this situation, Lumai suggested caring for rural preschool teachers, hoping that the foundation would raise money and give awards to teachers at the end of the year; Continue to increase the expenditure on preschool education, and the current investment of 0.42% of GDP is still insufficient; State financial investment in pre-school education should be tilted to rural areas, underdeveloped areas, mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas, and village-level pre-school education should be listed as a special project, just like the student nutrition improvement plan. Make good use of rural revitalization subsidy funds.

Media people who have been tracking and interviewing the "One Village, One Park" plan for a long time believe that the children's development project of China Development Research Foundation is a very important part of the whole rural revitalization in China, involving the cultivation of people's development rights, opportunities and abilities. At present, the investment of government departments in the field of early education is still insufficient. I hope that a long-term investment mechanism can be established in rural pre-school education and early parenting in the future, not only relying on the enthusiasm of volunteers, but also the support mechanism of the central government.

"Starting from 20 10, the government began to vigorously support pre-school education and tilted towards the countryside, but there are still many problems that need continuous attention." Song Yingquan, a researcher at China Institute of Education and Finance Science in Peking University, said that the central government needs to further increase investment, and at the same time, the investment methods need to be improved, such as the investment in rural children's nutrition and health, to ensure the stability of preschool teachers. These problems need to be solved by cross-departmental concerted efforts and integration of resources.

1 1 year is like a blink of an eye. For Xiaoguo, it is really not easy for parents to question and don't understand from the beginning, unwilling to send their children to kindergarten, and to recognize the role of kindergarten from all walks of life. Over the years, many early education teachers who came with Xiao Guo have left, but many have stayed like her. They witnessed each other's growth and guarded the growth of mountain children.

"Every child is the hope of the family, the future of the world and the future of mankind," Xiao Guo said. In the future, she and her colleagues will still stick to their original intentions and protect these children with sincerity.

Author: Xu Hui

Editor on duty: Yu Junru Editor in charge: Zhang Xuemao