BEIJING - The Chinese central government has increased financial input for preschool education, from 15 billion yuan (2.2 billion US dollars) in 2018 to 16.85 billion yuan in 2019, the Ministry of Education said Thursday.

Some 1 billion yuan will be allocated to expand the building of kindergartens in the country's 11 provincial-level regions in 2019, part of an effort to increase preschool education resources, Lyu Yugang, an official with the ministry, said at a press conference.

Meanwhile, local governments have taken effective measures to increase public access to affordable preschool education.