After-school care is growing increasingly popular in China, as evidenced by a commentary published by China Daily. Wife and mother Liu Weifeng shared her take on after-school care agencies and the increasing demand for it in the country.
"When I received the entrance permit letter for my son's primary school this summer, I was excited for a moment, but then I considered the consequences: first and foremost, should I quit my job?" she wrote.
The answer came in the form of after-school care agencies, which was suggested by Liu's husband.
The educational agency they hired, licensed to provide training and after-school education, saw to it that their son's basic needs were met. This included picking up Liu's song from school, tutoring him, giving him snacks such as yoghurt and fruit, and giving him ample free time to mingle and converse with other kids in the after-school care agency. By 6:30 in the evening, it is time for him to go home.
"All this before we pick up the son at 6:30 p.m. The monthly fee for such a service is 1,200 yuan ($190). We've been using the service for two months. So far so good, for the three of us," Liu wrote in her article.
According to Liu, most agencies that provide after-school services are self-employed family businesses, some of which do not even have proper business documents.
"They run the business just because of the huge demand from working parents with school-going kids," Liu said. "The service I chose is a decent one, licensed for training and after-school education. Of course, the service charge is a little higher than average. The market price ranges from 800 yuan to 2,000 yuan per month."
Currently, no statistics exist regarding the size of the after-school care market in the country. However, it has been estimated by the Ministry of Education that the educational training services industry in China was worth around 960 billion yuan by 2012.