Liang, a male kindergarten teacher, assists the kids in outdoor activities. Playing games is an important way to teach but also a tiring job for the teachers. [Photo/CFP]

Beijing education authorities launched inspection tours of kindergartens this week to ensure that children are not overburdened with schoolwork.

Although Chinese, mathematic and English are supposed to be taught to primary school students, it is not uncommon to see preschool-age children across China being forced to study these subjects. Preschool education should focus on cultivating children's behavior rather than focusing on books, because forcing children to learn primary school lessons in a kindergarten could reduce their interest in learning.

In 2012, the Ministry of Education told kindergartens not to burden pupils with schoolwork on the pretext of holding special or experimental classes. The ministry also directed kindergartens not to assign homework to preschool children. But in practice, few local education authorities and kindergartens have followed the rule. Some kindergartens claim to abide by the regulation but still teach preschool children Chinese, math and English.

Fully implementing this regulation, therefore, has become difficult.

First, despite the educational authorities reiterating that children should be admitted to neighborhood primary schools without taking any test, there is still competition for admission, because the number of applicants exceeds the available seats. Primary schools that cannot admit all the applicants have to set some criterion to select the children, and the most common one is to test their knowledge.

If the ministry's directive were to be followed in letter and spirit, parents would have to send their children to social training institutions, which will fail to reduce the pressure of studies on children. In addition, it will increase parents' anxiety and economic burden. So, simply directing kindergartens not to teach pupils primary school lessons is not enough.

Besides, social training institutions cannot be stopped from teaching preschool pupils primary school lessons or subjects, because the ministry's directive applies only to schools and kindergartens within the public education system. Many preschool social training institutions are supervised by industrial and commercial bureaus, not the education authorities.