In China, students usually enrol in pre-school at age two
or three, and leave pre-school at the age of six. Pre-school
education is not compulsory, and many pre-schools are
privately owned. However, the government has taken on
a more proactive role in promoting access following a
national commitment to progressively universalise one
to three years of pre-school by 2020.
In China, students must complete nine years of
compulsory education. Most students spend six years in
primary school, though a few school systems use a fiveyear cycle for primary school. Primary education starts at
age six for most children. This is followed by three to four
years of junior secondary education. Before the 1990s,
secondary schools recruited students on the basis of an
entrance examination.