Bi-Lingual education for Foreign Children

Posted in: Forums > Living in Kunming • 9 posts • Newest

• • Yuantongsi
    September 8, 2010
    169 posts
  • Apart from local Primary schools (weak English Education Plus a VERY heavy homework load) and KIA, are there any other options for foreign children (under 10 Primary years) in Kunming?

• • Ouyang
    September 8, 2010
    118 posts
  • There is KIY(Korean school in the north). I'm not exactly sure what classes they have for younger kids. I know middle school and high school kids can pick to have more Chinese classes or English classes. I can ask tomorrow or Friday..

• • laotou
    September 9, 2010
    620 posts
  • There's an international (aka bilingual English-Chinese) primary school somewhere near the airport - cheaper than Beijing - but last time I checked the annual tuition (not including books and supplies) was somewhere around ¥10k per kid. Attendance will probably require you to have a car (or an e-scooter with a severely powerful and long-lasting battery).

    If you send your kids to local (Chinese) schools - be careful - they'll try to rape (I use the word correctly) you for up to ¥25k per child (Americans benefitting from the largest fees, of course) - but this is illegal despite some pseudo-official looking paper that they won't let you copy or take home.

    Beijing and Hu Jintao's government legislated primary schooling for ALL children in China is FREE - from grades 1-9.

• • Greginchina
    September 9, 2010
    239 posts
  • Its true that primary education is free. However I think that only applies to kids with a local hukou. Children with foreign passports do not tend to have a local hukou (if they did it would be illegal but thats a discussion for another time).

    Infact the hukou system only allows you to go to a local school so that if you are from Panlong District you would have hard time getting into a primary school in Wuhua district.

    As a foreigner your hands are pretty much tied and you almost definately will need to pay some kind of bribe to get into a local school. Its all about hukou and citizenship, that both parents are taxpayers in China and contributing to the economy is unfortunately irrelevant.

• • laotou
    September 9, 2010
    620 posts
  • Greg
    My kids go to local school in Kunming for free - just like everyone else. I got ticked when they tried to extort money from me. If you want to send your kids OUT of district - then extortion is understandable. My kids couldn't get into the neighborhood schools in Beijing so I sent them to one of the best primary schools in zhongguancun - but that only cost (non-refundable of course) ¥6k per year - not ¥25k for some subpar crap rural school in kunming.

    This is something where gaoxing would have a legit gripe to flame KM and YN in general. Stinks of corruption.

• • Yuantongsi
    September 9, 2010
    169 posts
  • It seems that the option of finding something in KM that is a mix of international and local school in Kunming is not an option.

    Anyone know anything about 海贝双语学校?

• • Greginchina
    September 10, 2010
    239 posts
  • Thanks Laotou, that's good to know. not something we'll have to deal with for a couple of years but helpful nonetheless. I got the impression all kids without local hukou (so that naturally includes foreigners) have to pay. Good to know its not the case.

• • homer
    September 19, 2010
    6 posts
  • Does anyone have contact information for the Korean school in the north (KIY), or the one near the airport?

• • Danmairen
    January 21, 2011
    427 posts
  • Homer: http://www.christianvolunteering.org/[...]

    was the closest I could get. Be aware though, if this is the right place it looks more like Jesus Camp than anything deserving of the word "school" in the title.

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