Working parents have one big fear - leaving their children home alone after school.

The closing down of after-school care centers at Shanghai's public elementary schools two years ago has put working parents under great pressure as they struggle to find chaperones for their kids who finish classes around 3:30 p.m.

At a symposium on after-school care on Tuesday, experts called for educational institutes and community centers to come up with solutions to address this growing problem.

"Normally, I finish work at 6 p.m. But I have to stay back often and also go for business trips frequently. So does my husband, who works in an IT company," said Deng Wenfeng, a mother of a 10-year-old boy.

"We have no time to pick up our son after school. I feel guilty that he has to travel alone for an hour and a half and then stay alone at home," she said.

Gu Ju, a working mother, also faces the same dilemma.

"My parents in Nanjing took care of our daughter before she went to kindergarten. We used to blame ourselves for not taking care of her, but we have no choice," she said.

Gu hopes that social institutions and local governments will step in to provide after-school care for children of working parents.

A survey conducted in more than 40 Pizza Hut restaurants in Shanghai in 2006, soon after the care facilities were closed down, showed that almost 80 percent of parents felt that the decision affected their work and lives considerably.

At least 58 percent of parents said their biggest concern was leaving kids alone after school. Almost half the parents surveyed wanted to put their children in care centers instead of at home. They were willing to pay 100 yuan (US$14.60) to 300 yuan a month for such a service.

Zhou He, who is in charge of the Integrated Early Childhood Development project of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, proposed at the seminar that clubhouses in community centers could offer after-class care.

"At least 80 percent of clubhouses in the city's housing complexes have low usage. These could double up as day-care centers, and this would go a long way in solving child-care problems," she said.

Zhou also said that Chinese parents need to teach their children to live independently.

Some after-school care services have been provided with the help of local communities, schools and volunteer teachers in Zhabei District, a speaker at the symposium said.

Pizza Hut, which has an after-class care program, will extend it this month with the support of Only Education, a local educational institute.