A poll released yesterday by the Professor Huang Kun-huei Education Foundation showed 81.7 percent of respondents agree that the government should prioritize the implementation of compulsory education for five-year-olds.
The poll also found that 45.4 percent of respondents agree with the government’s policy of providing subsidies for the education of five-year-olds to improve the quality of private preschools, while 45.9 percent of respondents disagree.
In terms of preschool selection, the poll found that 45.5 percent of respondents would choose a public preschool, 7.5 percent would choose a private preschool and 39 percent believe that either is fine.
The poll showed that 79.4 percent of respondents agree that this is the right time to implement compulsory education for five-year-olds and look forward to the government announcing a timetable for implementing the policy as soon as possible.
The poll also found that more than 80 percent of respondents believe that the distribution of public preschools is uneven and hope that empty classrooms at elementary and junior-high schools can be used to establish affiliated public preschools.
Meanwhile, 70 percent of respondents support sponsoring communities or private businesses to provide space for the government to establish public preschools.
According to the Ministry of Education, the percentage of five-year-old children enrolled in preschool programs was more than 96 percent in 2016.
The foundation surveyed people over the age of 20 nationwide between Feb. 24 and Feb. 28, and collected 1,072 valid samples. The survey has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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