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66 Taiwan Development Perspectives 2009
Preschool Education
Preschool education lasts from one to two years.
Preschool education is not in Taiwan at present.
There were only 28 kindergartens on the island in
1950, with 17,111 in attendance. Nursery schools totaled
3,283 in 2007, with a combined enrollment of
191,733 children. Parents are eager to provide their
children below six years of age with preschool education.
The children attending kindergartens in 2007 were
10.2 times as many as in 1950.
Preschool education is most developed in France,
Germany, and Australia. Their gross enrollment for
children aged 5 or younger was 100 percent or above in
2006. The United States, the United Kingdom, Japan,
and South Korea followed, all well over 50 percent.
Taiwan and China lagged behind at 27.66 percent and
39 percent, respectively. A net enrollment rate is estimated
at 83 percent for Taiwan, the difference being
due to inconsistency in its preschool education system.
The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Education
share the responsibility of preschool education,
under which kindergartens for children three to six
years old coexist with childcare centers for babies six
months old or younger. At least 80 percent of these institutions
are privately run. Tabulation is quite difficult
and only an estimate was made for the net enrollment.
(See Table 6.)
Country
Table 6.
Gross Enrollment Rates for Preschool Education
2006
Total M. F.
Unit:%
Taiwan
27.66
(83.0)
27.67
(83.0)
27.65
(83.0)
China 39 40 38
Japan 86 -- --
South Korea 96 94 97
United States of America 61 61 61
United Kingdom 72 71 73
France 116 116 115
Germany 105 106 105
Australia 104 106 103
Notes: 1. Children aged five are tabulated for the gross enrollment rate.
2. The figures within the parentheses are the estimated net enrollment rates.
3. Gross enrollment rate = number of children / population reaching school age for preschool education x100.
Source: Department of Statistics, Ministry of Education, 2008a, p.2.
Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia lead in
the net enrollment of preschoolers. The United States
and South Korea follow. Although Taiwan’s net enrollment
rate was as low as 27.5 percent in 2006, its estimated
enrollment of preschoolers at 82.7 percent. rivals
Japan’s 85 percent net enrollment. (See Table 7.) The