Beijing - Post Report Question and Answers
Are preschools available? Day care? Are these expensive? What has been your experience with them, if any? Do the schools provide before- and/or after-school care?
No direct experience. Several international schools offer preschool options for potty-trained kids as young as 3. For younger kids and/or after-school care, ayis (nannies) are widely available and relatively affordable. - Nov 2024
There are preschool programs for younger children, but they are very expensive, on par with US prices. Fortunately our ayi is well-connected and arranges for our toddler to have daily play dates and takes him to do lots of activities, so we feel that he gets plenty of benefit from that. - Nov 2021
Yes, but they are not cheap. Most people pay an Ayi to watch their kids full time. - Nov 2020
Commercial preschools and daycare facilities are still closed. Most expat families choose in-home daycare with an Ayi. - Aug 2020
Yes, but preschool is expensive! great schools and choices. For childcare most people hire a helper. - May 2020
Lots of childcare choices most people with small children have full time "ayis" (housekeepers). - Oct 2017
Yes, preschool is available, but it is really expensive. I don't have preschool aged kids, but I do have several friends with younger kids. The tuition is staggeringly high. Many do use a part-time program supplemented by time with their household helpers. - Jul 2014
Yes but again, extremely expensive. I looked into a program for my one-year-old, and it would have cost $16,000! - Jun 2013
I have heard that it is prohibitively expensive. - Aug 2011
These are available but very expensive. - Jan 2011
Oh, don't get me started! You have a choice: pay for preschool or save for college. Preschools are ridiculously expensive here, so if your employer doesn't pay for it, don't bring a preschool-aged child here. Preschool tuition at ISB, for example, is over $20,000 a year -- for part-time! We had a child at Eton preschool in Shunyi, which had a deal at the time for embassy employees, making it more reasonable. But it is still expensive. - Apr 2010
Quite a variety now at varying levels of price and interest. - Jan 2010
