Kindergarten attendance in China greatly decreasing, with a loss of 25% over the past four years
China is facing a significant shift in its demographic landscape, with a three-year consecutive decline in population recorded up to 2024 and a concurrent drop in kindergarten enrollment rates. In response, the country is implementing a series of reforms aimed at sustaining education quality, addressing inequalities, and preparing students for a knowledge- and technology-driven economy.
One of the key reforms involves reducing academic pressure by revamping the Gaokao system, China's college entrance exam. This includes comprehensive evaluations and more flexible subject choices, aiming to lower student stress and adapt to fewer students. Additionally, expanding vocational education is on the agenda, with 40% of secondary students expected to enroll in vocational tracks, offering diverse pathways beyond traditional academics.
Integrating AI, coding, and digital literacy early in curricula, including kindergarten and primary levels, is another significant reform. This move aligns education with future economic needs and technological innovation. Closing urban-rural education gaps is also a priority, with improvements in digital infrastructure, teacher training, and policy experiments targeting rural and migrant children’s access and quality of education.
Regional pilot reforms, such as those in Zhejiang and Shenzhen, are being introduced gradually. These innovative and flexible educational models are designed to adapt to local demographic trends before nationwide rollout. Emphasizing holistic education, including moral education, creativity, and student well-being, is also part of the reforms, to balance academic rigour with broader developmental goals.
In higher education, engineering talent cultivation is being reformed through industry-education integration and the establishment of elite engineering graduate programs. This aims to meet evolving workforce demands, aligning talent development to economic needs despite fewer young people overall.
The number of births in China rose by about 520,000 last year to 9.3 million, but still outpaced deaths and have declined by nearly half since the peak of 17.9 million in 2017. Better day-care facilities for infants could be provided as part of the potential improvements to China's education system. Investment in China's universities could also be a part of these improvements, with Beijing potentially reallocating resources saved by the declining student numbers to improve the overall quality of China's education system.
The contraction of China's pre-school system is a foretaste of the challenges to come for business and policymakers from China's demographic decline. In Jinhua, educator and kindergarten owner Zhuang Yanfang, facing declining enrolments, converted one of her facilities into a 42-bed nursing home in 2023. Despite expanding her two remaining kindergartens to provide day care for infants starting from 10 months old, Zhuang is not optimistic about future enrolments. Zhuang estimates that 90% of private kindergartens have closed in the rapidly ageing community of Jinhua.
Despite these challenges, Zhuang is looking at ways to keep the nursing homes going, and some elderly people in the community prefer to live with younger family members and would only stay in a nursing home as a last resort. The reforms to China's education system aim to allow the smaller, older but more educated population to thrive. The decline in births and enrolments in China's kindergartens is largely due to the decades-long policy that limited many couples to one child, which was ended in 2016.
Stuart Gietel-Basten, director of the Center for Aging Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, stated that the decline in births in China is "huge" compared to five or 10 years ago. The gaokao, the university entrance exam in China, could be revamped as part of the potential reforms to the education system.
In conclusion, China's education system is undergoing significant changes in response to demographic shifts, with a focus on reducing academic pressure, expanding vocational education, integrating technology, closing urban-rural education gaps, experimenting with regional reforms, emphasizing holistic education, and reforming higher education to meet evolving workforce demands. These reforms aim to sustain education quality and relevance, address inequalities exacerbated by demographic changes, and better prepare students for a knowledge- and technology-driven economy in the context of declining birth rates and smaller enrollment at kindergarten and other levels.
- To adapt to a dwindling population and the demands of a technology-driven economy, China is revamping its education system, integrating technology subjects like AI and coding into curricula, even at kindergarten level.
- In light of the decrease in birth rates and enrollment at kindergarten and other levels, China is also focusing on holistic education, emphasizing student well-being, creativity, and moral education, as part of its reforms to balance academic rigor with broader developmental goals.
