Illustration: Lu Ting/GT

"It tells parents that studying in advance is unnecessary. Children who start from the beginning can keep up with their studies very well and get used to life in primary school more quickly."

The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission released a report Monday on first graders at local primary schools. The report, which was based on a survey of more than 160,000 parents of students from more than 900 elementary schools, shows the effects of the Start from Zero policy that the commission launched at the city's elementary schools last September. The survey showed that children without any preschool education on school subjects performed as well in adaption, interest, pressure, pleasure and attention of study as children who received a preschool education.