Since 2006, residents in Tiantongyuan have posted articles online asking for more State-run kindergartens to be built in their community. The campaign has been ongoing for four years but so far Tiantongyuan still does not have one.

An official from Changping district education commission told Mirror Evening News there were plans for State-owned kindergartens in the original blueprints for Tiantongyuan, but the developer ended up leasing the facilities to private kindergartens due to "all kinds of historical reasons".

Changping district government has been working on reclaiming the facilities in recent years and officials say that within three years, State-owned kindergartens will be built in Tiantongyuan.

Liu Limin, head of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, said the city government will invest five billion yuan during the next three to five years to build 118 new kindergartens and enlarge another 300, boosting the proportion of State-owned kindergartens from the current 67 percent to 80 percent, Beijing Evening News reported on Saturday.

However, for some residents in Tiantongyuan, the good news is too far in the future.

On the community's forum, a feasibility report for the building of a non-profit kindergarten has attracted the attention of more than 1,300 people.

"Neptune", the initiator of the report and the father of a two-year-old child, suggested parents in Tiantongyuan build a non-profit family-style kindergarten to educate the children by themselves.

"A non-profit kindergarten would be better than a traditional private one in its management model," Neptune said. "There would be less money wasted and better safety provisions."

Several residents have responded the post positively. Others have doubted the viability of the idea but said anything would be worth a try.

-China Daily/Asia News Network