Expanding more than 140 classes in Hangzhou!, Primary school enrollment has reached its peak in recent years

Yesterday's school day

Topic "2023 Primary School Enrollment Reaches Recent Peak"

Rushing to the hot search, sparking heated discussions

According to previous news from China News Network

On the 30th, Tian Zuyin, Director of the Basic Education Department of the Ministry of Education, stated that

Affected by population policies

The number of primary school enrollments in some large and medium-sized cities this year

All have reached their peak in recent years

Some netizens call this year the "most difficult year to enter school"

Related to "the first batch of second children attending primary school"

Some netizens have responded

There are 24 classes in the first grade of the new semester,

The number of new students enrolled has doubled

This situation has also been confirmed in Hangzhou

In 2022, Hangzhou City will enroll 125000 first-year freshmen

And this year, there are about 150000 primary school freshmen of appropriate age in Hangzhou

Setting a new high for primary school freshmen in Hangzhou in the past 30 years

Phenomena such as expanding classes and urgently recruiting teachers have also emerged

The person in charge of the Basic Education Department of Linping District Education Bureau told reporters

Most schools in the area have moderately expanded their classes

In the autumn of 2023, a total of more than 140 classes will be expanded

Earlier, the reporter saw before the start of the school year that

Many primary and secondary schools in Hangzhou urgently recruit teachers

The education system in Xiaoshan District has also issued a notice

Recruiting nearly 300 non staff teachers

The reporter learned that not only Xiaoshan District

Similar situations also exist in other regions of Hangzhou

Facing the peak of primary school enrollment

How should the education department and schools respond?

What are the concerns of parents?

Is the educational resources for middle and high schools sufficient?

School: Using Eighteen Martial Arts to Achieve a Degree

The peak of primary school enrollment this year was actually predetermined 6 or 7 years ago. In 2016, the two child policy was fully relaxed. According to media reports, the number of newborns in Zhejiang increased by 20% in June of that year. In 2017, nearly 110000 newborns were born in Hangzhou. This is also the highest birth rate in Hangzhou since 1990. This year, these children born at the peak have reached the age of elementary school.

Although there were early expectations, the popularity of some popular public primary schools when they announced their registration years still exceeded the expectations of many parents. For example, the Yueming Campus of Jiangnan Experimental School Education Group located in Binjiang District has been settled for nearly 6 years, and the Wenyi Campus of Wenyi Street Primary School located in Xihu District has been settled for 5 and a half years. Such a long period of household registration also means that although some children are born and settled, they do not have the opportunity to enter the corresponding primary school.

Under the severe enrollment situation, in order to free up more degrees, the education department and schools have employed eighteen martial arts techniques. "Two years ago, we estimated the enrollment peak for this year by identifying eligible children in the area, and made preparations in advance." Jin Xiaodong, the principal of Jiangnan Experimental School, said that under the planning of the district education bureau, a new primary school near the school was included in the Jiangnan Experimental School Education Group and intervened in campus cultural design six months in advance to reserve new school teachers. This autumn, the newly established Beitanghe Primary School admitted 10 classes of new students, greatly alleviating the enrollment pressure.

The person in charge of the Basic Education Department of the Education Bureau of Linping District told reporters that most schools in the district have moderately expanded their classes based on the actual situation of the schools. In the autumn of 2023, a total of more than 140 classes were expanded. On the basis of having only 24 classes, Yinghe Primary School has expanded its class size by renovating multiple functional classrooms and expanding four classes. The Xinzhou Campus of Linping Third Primary School has expanded three classes based on the approved six classes for the first grade. In order to ensure the quality of art courses offered in primary schools after class expansion, the Education Bureau of the district invested more than 6 million yuan this summer to expand space and add dedicated classrooms on campus; At the same time, optimize the existing dedicated classrooms, add multiple "digital" devices, and transform the original single subject functional classroom into a multifunctional classroom that integrates calligraphy, art, labor, and more.

In addition, many primary schools in Hangzhou have recruited multiple substitute teachers during the summer vacation to address urgent needs. "In order to find a suitable substitute teacher, I have been busier this summer than usual," said a primary school principal in Hangzhou.

Parents: Be well prepared but still anxious

During the summer vacation, the once in 30 year enrollment peak has already caused many parents to feel anxious.

The home visits of primary school homeroom teachers and freshmen, which were originally just routine operations, were the first to be rolled up. On social media, some parents share their carefully prepared and abundant fruits, drinks, and exquisite pastries for their homeroom teachers; Parents also had their children draw a hand drawn map of the vicinity of their home in advance and send it to their homeroom teacher; Some parents even made a PPT specifically to showcase their children's personality traits, hobbies and specialties, competition experiences, volunteer activities, etc. to the class teacher comprehensively

These actions, which are seen by netizens as very convoluted, are a projection of parents' inner anxiety. "Home visits are the first window for teachers to get to know their children, fearing that due to insufficient preparation, the teacher may not have a deep impression of their children." Ms. Liu, who lives in Binjiang District, said that this is a common feeling among the first-year parents around her.

Not only that, many parents have already made plans for the first grade of elementary school from the beginning of their children's senior class. Ms. Liu, who has a first-year freshman at home, told reporters that since her son's kindergarten class, their whole family has made a plan for the transition from kindergarten to primary school - every day after school, they go home, do mental arithmetic questions first, then practice writing, and attend online classes for the transition from kindergarten to primary school during the summer. In addition, she also spontaneously formed a jump rope practice team with her neighbors, and it has been a year without any obstacles. "Now that the middle school entrance examination and college entrance examination are just like that, will the degree resources in high schools and universities become more scarce in the future?" Ms. Liu said, after all, from the current trend, the number of primary school admissions will continue to decline. She is concerned that the education department may consider wasting educational resources in the future, and therefore will not invest more educational resources in this generation of students.

With the start of the school year approaching, some parents' anxiety has also been alleviated. Due to her son's almost years of settling down, she missed her favorite elementary school in the school district and fell into a state of anxiety this summer. "On the one hand, it's self blame for not having sufficient expectations for the peak enrollment, which led to late household registration. On the other hand, it's also anxiety that my son is going to a newly delivered elementary school, which may not be very mature." Muzi said, as she once considered gritting her teeth to send her son to the best international school in Hangzhou.

Unexpectedly, after attending the parent teacher conference for elementary school freshmen a few days ago, Muzi's mood slowly calmed down. "I found that although this is a new primary school, the principal's educational philosophy is very good. His speech did not mention grades, but led parents to understand education from a higher and more comprehensive perspective. In popular terms, this parent teacher meeting has cured my anxiety."

More educational resources are being laid out

Is there a solution to parents' anxiety? In fact, the education department in Hangzhou has already predicted the arrival of the enrollment peak in advance and is planning future education resources based on population trends.

For example, in 2022, the Hangzhou Education Bureau announced the "Hangzhou City High School Layout Plan", which stated that by 2035, the total number of high schools in Hangzhou City will reach 230, providing 434000 students with high school degrees. Among them, 50 new high schools are planned to be built in the long term, which can increase the number of new high schools by 143000 students.

The main basis for the Hangzhou Education Bureau's vigorous planning of high school degrees is the enrollment data of primary and secondary school students. According to the planning forecast, the demand for high school degrees in Hangzhou is 261000 students in the near future and 410000 students in the long term. The goal of the plan is also very clear, promoting the equalization of high-quality high school education resources in Hangzhou urban area, increasing the capacity of high school education, improving the spatial distribution of schools, improving school operating conditions, and achieving the co construction and sharing of high-quality high school education resources.

On August 24th, the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government held a high-level meeting to promote the construction of a strong province in higher education and high-level universities. The relevant person in charge of the Provincial Department of Education made a statement: Zhejiang will continue to improve the quality of higher education while expanding the capacity of higher education institutions, so that Zhejiang children have more opportunities to receive high-quality higher education.

Zhao Jian, the principal of Qianjiang Foreign Language Experimental School in Hangzhou, said that parents do not need to worry about educational resources. The education administration department will definitely consider these issues earlier than parents. Taking her nine-year consistent school as an example, she will definitely prepare for the peak enrollment in junior high school by 1-2 years in advance to reserve teachers and classroom space.

"In my opinion, the waste of educational resources should be a false proposition. In order to solve the enrollment peak, many schools have changed their dedicated classrooms to regular classrooms. In the future, if the number of eligible children decreases, schools will have more space to explore small class teaching and provide students with diverse and personalized new learning spaces." Lin Li, director of the Basic Education Research Institute of the Provincial Education Research Institute, said that compared to the anxiety about the future, parents should and can do more to accompany their children's current growth and help them develop the ability to cope with future uncertainties.