Government-backed summer childcare program flourishing

Pooling efforts of society

With daycare programs gaining popularity, daycare program organizers are pooling society's efforts 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. Thus, all children can receive adequate attention and care.

For the future development of vacation-time daycare services, there is still room for improvement, experts said.

"Organizers of daycare programs should be familiar with the traits of students at different ages and understand what they need most," said 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 design courses accordingly, instead of organizing one-size-fits-all activities.

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