The Ministry of Finance allocated 45.8 billion yuan in funding for the development of preschool education in 2026, a year-on-year increase of 38%.

In order to implement the decisions and arrangements of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, promote the universal, benefitting, safe and high-quality development of pre-school education, the Ministry of Finance has recently allocated 45.8 billion yuan to support the development of pre-school education in 2026, an increase of 12.56 billion yuan from the previous year, an increase of 38%. It focuses on supporting localities to solidify and implement the policy of free child care and education for pre-school education; fill the gaps in universal resources, improve education quality, and consolidate the subsidy system for economically disadvantaged children and other groups. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the central finance has allocated a total of 126.2 billion yuan to support the development of pre-school education. Starting from the autumn semester of 2025, the tuition fees for one year of pre-school education for children in public kindergartens will be exempted, and corresponding reductions will be granted to age-appropriate children in private kindergartens, benefiting more than 14 million children in kindergartens and reducing family education expenditures by more than 20 billion yuan. Next, the Ministry of Finance, together with the Ministry of Education, will guide local authorities to fully leverage the role of provincial-level coordination, reasonably arrange central subsidy funds and local subsidy funds for exempting child care and educational fees, and ensure the normal operation of kindergartens. At the same time, it will deepen the work of expanding and improving the quality of pre-school education, accelerate the improvement of weak areas, and steadily improve the level of kindergarten operation. This article is selected from the official website of the Ministry of Finance, GMTEight editor: Feng Qiuyi.