Zhou Liyan, who takes her daughter, a final-grade kindergarten pupil, out of school after lunch twice a week for extra classes, said most parents do not want to force their children into additional lessons, but are compelled to do so as opportunities to get them enrolled in good schools are limited.

Looking ahead, she said the policy for the gaokao, the national college entrance exam, influences parents to turn to additional education institutions.

As long as opportunities to access colleges remain limited, parental anxieties will never be eased, and their desire for additional classes will remain, Zhou said.

The stay-at-home mother said her daughter had attended additional classes since she began the final year at kindergarten.

"At kindergarten, children spend most of the time sleeping, having snacks and doing sports in the afternoon. But we've no choice but to spend time preparing for the 'interview'," Zhou said, adding that the children who do not drop classes in the afternoon still do additional work after supper when their parents are home from work.

A teacher, surnamed Lin, at a prestigious private elementary school in Shanghai said the possibility of any child from a public kindergarten, however well-known, being enrolled at the school is almost zero if he or she does not take extra classes. Such classes will familiarize the children with tests designed to examine their logical reasoning, and address questions commonly asked in school enrollment "interviews".

"Another important factor that has intensified competition for elite schools in recent years is that these children's parents were mostly born in the 1980s, and their education levels are higher than previous generations," Lin said.

In January, Shanghai Town Country Club, which specializes in providing "premium families" with recreational and lifestyle services, held an activity in which the club's members and 10 students at Harvard University in the United States took part. More than 50 local families with young children were attracted by this chance to communicate with the students.

Wang Guanlin and his 2-year-old twins took part－and he said the interaction would influence the way he helped his children to develop.

"I may arrange their studies and lives based on their interests and hobbies and encourage them to persevere and become devoted to what they love to do. That's how students get places in the most prestigious schools," Wang said.