China has passed its first law governing preschool education, as the government seeks to tighten regulation over a sector that has witnessed a string of recent scandals.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, passed the highly anticipated Preschool Education Law on Nov. 8, with the new regulations set to come into effect in June 2025.

The new law will fill a longstanding legislative gap in early childhood education in China, setting strict requirements for teachers’ qualifications and professional conduct and severe punishments for anyone failing to observe the rules.

“The enactment of the Preschool Education Law marks a new phase where preschool education rests on formal legal foundations,” said Tian Zuyin, a Ministry of Education official, at a press conference earlier this week.

China’s preschool education sector has grown significantly over the past decade, with the number of kindergartens rising from 181,300 in 2012 to 274,000 last year. More than 90% of preschool-age children in China were enrolled in kindergarten in 2023, a 26.6% increase compared with 2012, according to the Ministry of Education.

The industry has also become more formalized, as the government pours investment into developing public kindergartens that offer families a standardized, affordable option. More than 90% of China’s preschool students are now enrolled in these subsidized institutions, up 23.5% from 2016.

However, deep problems remain. “Preschool education is still a weak link in China’s overall educational landscape,” said Tian. “Regional disparities, insufficient resources, and issues in teacher development and regulatory frameworks are serious constraints on the high-quality development of the sector.”

In recent years, the industry has been rocked by a series of scandals involving preschool teachers physically abusing students, which has focused public attention on a perceived lack of quality teachers.

Just last week, police in eastern China’s Anhui province reportedly launched an investigation into allegations that a teacher at a local private kindergarten had been abusing her students, including by beating them with a bamboo stick.

In March, video footage surfaced of a kindergarten teacher in the central Henan province slapping a preschooler’s head, which sparked public outrage and led to the teacher being dismissed.

“There is a lag in the overall training of teachers in preschool education,” Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at China’s National Institute of Education Sciences, told Sixth Tone. “Although many teachers hold qualifications, their moral character and professional skills have not been adequately assessed or developed.”

The law aims to raise the standard of teaching in the preschool sector using a variety of approaches, starting with setting minimum standards for teachers’ qualifications and backgrounds.

According to the law, kindergarten teachers must hold a relevant teaching qualification, while kindergarten principals must have at least an associate degree and five years of teaching or management experience.

According to the Ministry of Education, there were 3.34 million kindergarten teachers and principals nationwide in 2023, of which 93.1% held at least an associate degree, up 26.7% from 2012.

Kindergartens hiring new teachers, principals, and health care staff will be required to check candidates’ backgrounds with local education and public security authorities.

Individuals with a history of abuse, sexual assault, harassment, trafficking, drug use, or other criminal offenses will not be eligible for employment. Neither will those with a record of alcohol abuse or serious violations of professional ethics, the law states.

The new regulations also set out penalties for teachers who fail to uphold the industry’s professional and ethical standards. Staff found to have engaged in “corporal punishment, discrimination, abuse, or sexual misconduct with children” will face dismissal and permanent bans from the sector, while their employer could also have their business license suspended.

“The introduction of this law is crucial for safeguarding children’s basic rights,” said Chu.

Meanwhile, the law also seeks to enhance in-classroom teaching by ensuring that kindergartens safeguard the mental health of their teachers, with employers required to provide staff with annual health checks.

Wang Haiying, director of the Preschool Policy Research Center at Nanjing Normal University, said that this provision could play an important role in improving the teaching environment inside kindergartens, as staff are often under pressure.

“With societal pressures rising, teachers are facing a changing work-stress environment,” said Wang. “Coupled with the unique nature of this profession, it’s exacerbating the issue of psychological distress to a certain extent. The annual health checks mandated in the new law are definitely necessary.”

(Header image: VCG)