To boost the low birth rate, Chinese authorities announced that starting from the autumn semester of 2025, the care and education fees for children in the senior kindergarten class (the last year of preschool) in public kindergartens will be waived. Private kindergartens will also follow suit with similar fee reductions. This policy is expected to benefit more than 10 million senior kindergarten students, with hundreds of yuan saved in fees per student each month. According to the 'Opinions on Gradually Promoting Free Preschool Education' released by the General Office of the State Council, the standard for waiving care and education fees will be implemented according to the fee standards of public kindergartens at or above the county level. For private kindergartens, any part of the care and education fees that exceeds the waived standard can continue to be charged to families of enrolled children in accordance with regulations. The policy also clarifies the financial subsidies for the waived fees and the sharing ratio between the central and local governments. It requires local governments to strengthen financial guarantees and management of funds to ensure the normal operation of kindergartens, and strictly prohibits the arrears of teachers' salaries. According to the '2024 National Education Statistics Bulletin,' there are 253,300 kindergartens in mainland China, with 35.8399 million children enrolled. It is estimated that the new measures will benefit more than 10 million senior kindergarten students. This policy is one of the important measures taken by China to improve the birth rate. Previously, China had introduced a child care subsidy of 3,600 yuan per year for children under three years old.