Interface News Reporter |Zhang Qiannan.On December 16, 2023, at the International Symposium on "High-quality Population Development Based on Child Development" held by the China Development Research Association, Wang Pei'an, deputy director of the Population, Resources and Environment Committee of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, former deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and member of the party group, said that the high-quality development of early childhood will help reduce the cost of childbirth, parenting, and education, and improve the fertility support policy system, so as to improve the fertility level of families and promote the long-term balanced development of the population.Interface News Editor |Zhai Ruimin.
At present, affected by various comprehensive factors, China's fertility level is at a rare trough in history, and China's fertility rate will be 1Around 3, it dropped to 1 in 202205.Although different scholars have different understandings of moderate fertility levels, I think that 1About 8 is an important reference value for China's moderate fertility level. Wang Pei'an said.
He said that low fertility is an inevitable process of human industrialization and modernization to a certain stage, and it is a demographic phenomenon that all developed countries in the world have generally experienced. At present, China is experiencing a dual change of population and family, low fertility rate and family miniaturization are intertwined, showing a trend of mutual reinforcement, the young generation's concept of marriage and childbearing is changing, and the trend of family size is becoming more and more obvious. The data shows that in 2020, the average household size in China will drop to 26 people, a decrease of 048 people.
Wang Pei'an introduced that from the perspective of international experience, the earlier, more complete and more complete countries with a more complete system of fertility support service system will be more relaxed in coping with low fertility, the more abundant service means, and the harvest effect will be relatively obvious. Therefore, for China, which has not yet entered the stage of developed countries but has a low fertility rate, it is more urgent and necessary to accelerate the improvement of the fertility support policy system that helps the long-term balanced development of the population.
He said that data from international economic organizations show that countries with a sound early childhood development policy system have a relatively high fertility level, and early childhood development services are more sound, especially the more complete the childcare service system, the lighter the burden of childbearing and parenting on the family, and the greater the probability of family reproduction.
However, there are still shortcomings in China's human resource development in the early childhood stage. Fang Jin, vice chairman and secretary general of the China Development Research Association, said that on the one hand, China's public investment in early childhood, especially 0-3 years old, is relatively small, and the shortcomings of public policies in the early care of 0-3 year old children are particularly prominent in rural and underdeveloped areasOn the other hand, there is a large difference in the level of development of children between urban and rural areas. According to the 2020 National Children's Development Survey conducted by the China Children's Center under the All-China Women's Federation in poverty alleviation areas, there are still many shortcomings and weaknesses in the comprehensive physical and mental development ability of children aged 0-3 in poverty alleviation areas compared with the national average.
Wang Pei'an also pointed out that the relevant investigation and research show that the overall early childhood development in rural areas of China is lagging behind, up to 1 3 children in rural areas may be delayed, the phenomenon of "parent-child isolation" is prominent, children's falls, scalds and other safety problems are more serious, there is insufficient scientific knowledge, insufficient parental enlightenment education, etc., if there is no targeted intervention, it will have an irreversible impact on children's lifelong development, leading to lasting poverty and even the intergenerational transmission of poverty, affecting the modernization process of poor areas and even the whole country.
At the same time, Wang Pei'an introduced that there are differences in the investment of different families in child rearing and education, which brings risks to the balanced development of early childhood. According to a survey by the National Health Commission, 90Fifty-five per cent of infants and young children under the age of three are cared for by their parents, grandparents, and maternal grandparents, and no more than 10 per cent are cared for by other relatives, nannies, childcare institutions and other non-family members, but there are significant differences in the investment of different families in early childhood development.
On the one hand, the proportion of consumption expenditure on child education in low-income families is higher, resulting in a heavier burden of child rearing education, and on the other hand, the actual investment of low-income families in child rearing education is significantly lower than that of high-income families, which leads to a wider gap between different income families in child rearing and education. Wang Pei'an said.
Tian Zuyin, Director General of the Department of Basic Education of the Ministry of Education, said, "Investing in children is investing in the future. Relevant research and international experience have shown that scientific preschool education is an important social intervention to eradicate poverty and break the intergenerational cycle of poverty, which can effectively reduce the adverse impact of family poverty, family affection and lack of family education on people's lifelong development.
Tian Zuyin introduced that China has implemented the fourth phase of the preschool education action plan for ten consecutive years, promoted the vigorous development of public parks, actively supported inclusive private parks, and strived to increase the supply of inclusive resources. According to statistics, as of 2022, the total number of kindergartens in the country will reach 2890,000 schools, with 4,627 children in kindergartens50,000 people, an increase of 13 over 201090,000, an increase of 1,65090,000 people. The national gross enrolment rate for pre-school education increased from 56 in 20106% increased to 89 in 20227 per cent, basically achieving universal access to pre-school education.
However, Tian Zuyin also pointed out that although China's preschool education has made remarkable achievements in recent years, we are also soberly aware that the contradiction of unbalanced and insufficient development is still relatively prominent. First, the distribution of resources needs to be optimized, with the advancement of urbanization and population changes, preschool education is facing the double contradiction of resource shortage and student reduction;Second, the teacher team needs to be optimized, the overall quality of kindergarten teachers can not fully meet the requirements of high-quality development of preschool education, and the professional level, salary guarantee and professional attractiveness of teachers need to be further improvedThird, the management needs to be optimized, pre-school education between urban and rural areas, between the development of large differences, some kindergartens are weak in conditions, and the behavior of running kindergartens is not standardized enough.
In response to these problems, the Ministry of Education has drafted a law on preschool education (draft) on the basis of comprehensively summarizing the reform and development of preschool education in the past ten years, and is speeding up the legislative process in accordance with the procedures, so as to ensure that school-age children receive fair and quality preschool education in the form of law. Tian Zuyin said.