The Shanghai Education Commission denied media reports yesterday that said it has banned local kindergartens from offering English-only classes.

"We have never issued any announcement banning English-only classes in local kindergartens," said an official with the commission, who asked not to be identified.

"Both English and Chinese are important languages that young children should study hard," He said.

A Beijing-based newspaper reported on Tuesday that the commission had issued a regulation banning local kindergartens from teaching in only English.

The report said children graduating from English-only kindergartens would not be allowed to enter local primary schools. Only "qualified" kindergartens will be allowed to offer English classes as part of their extracurricular activities, the newspaper reported.

Currently, the commission is still consulting preschool education experts on language teaching policies, but no detailed policy has been put forward yet.

(Shanghai Daily March 19, 2004)