Law helps parents better guide kids

Editor's note: The Law on Family Education Promotion, the first of its kind, took effect on Jan 1. Why does China need such legislation? Two experts share their views on the issue with China Daily's Yao Yuxin. Excerpts follow:

Parents need help to properly guide kids

Parents are a child's first teachers. Home schooling, to a large extent, determines what type of person a child will grow up to be. However, not every family has enough resources and skills to provide proper home schooling for their children.

The Law on Family Education Promotion aims to guide parents and guardians to properly bring up children. Specifically, the law says parents should follow scientific methods and ideas in order to become good parents.

When parents encounter difficulties, they can approach the public system, which has been established to improve the quality of family education, to seek help.

Parents are the main responsible party for bringing up kids, and the law will help them fulfill their responsibilities scientifically. That's why the provisions of penalty and detention for parents were dropped from the final version of the law. For those who refuse to fulfill their parental duties, they will be admonished and asked to get their act together.

By making family matters a matter of the State, the law will raise people's awareness and help the whole society to pay more attention to the upbringing of minors.

China's first center to provide guidance for parents was set up in Xuyong county, Sichuan province, in November 2021 with a team of 14 professionals including judges, therapists and social workers. In Xuyong, families, schools, society and the local government have been working together to create a better environment for juveniles.

Yet there is a lack of qualified mentors. And insufficient number of professionals means only a limited number of parents in need can get help, which undermines the effect of the law in practice. So the local authorities should make arrangements for the training and recruitment of more professionals to close the gap and more effectively implement the law.

Mental, physical health of minors very important

According to the law, parents and guardians are responsible for children's education at home, and they can seek the support of the State and society to fulfill their duties.

Home schooling plays an important role in a child's education, and the law forbids parents and guardians from putting too much academic pressure on young children.

Since parental duties were not well-defined in the past, some parents and guardians failed to fulfill their due responsibilities toward their children. In some extreme cases, minors were subjected to domestic violence with some being tortured to death. The new law aims to put an end to such tragedies and provide professional guidance for parents so they can properly raise their children.

To ease the burden of homework and after-school tutoring on children, China implemented the "double reduction" policy in July. The goal of the new law is the same as the policy's.

Generally, parents decide the after-school schedule of their underage children. So the law requires parents and guardians not to add to the children's after-class burden and, instead, carefully apportion time for the kids to study, play, engage in physical exercise and rest.

The law will also improve collaboration between schools and parents, help ease the pressure on students to secure high scores in exams, improve the quality of education, and better protect minors' rights.

Rather than high scores, children's mental and physical health will be given priority during their growing-up years, as mandated by the new law.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.