China issues guidelines to improve services for children under 3

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02:29

30-year-old Li Yuanyuan is pregnant with her second child. Last year, her two-and-a-half-year-old son entered the nearby public kindergarten. This gave her the opportunity and courage to have one more child.

“I had only six months of maternity leave. I was quite worried that my son wouldn't get professional care between the age of six months to three years old. Luckily, I found it (the kindergarten)," Li said.

Li is not the only mum that has such worries. China now has about 50 million infants under the age of three. But most kindergartens only accept children who are above three years old. Infants are usually taken care of either by their grandparents or nannies.

“Infants under three require much more care. But many parents say that elderly people can't keep up with the latest infant care knowledge. And, it's very hard to find a professional nanny. That's the problem,” said Zhang Qiuping, the principal of Henan Experimental Kindergarten.

China's "one couple one child" policy ended three years ago, but many Chinese people hesitate to have more kids. And there were even fewer babies born in China last year than in 2017. Many parents are worried that their babies can't get proper care or a good education.

On May 9, the General Office of the State Council published new guidelines, which state that China will support the development of various types of infant care institutions.

Measures will be taken to promote infant care facilities in communities, especially in crowded neighborhoods.

“We see some kindergartens are providing services to infants under three years old. Our future work is to improve the quality and quantity (of this kind of institutions). We need to make infant care services more regulated,” said Lang Qingyi, the Director of Family Planning Department of Health Commission of Henan Province.

“We once thought of providing services to infants starting from one and a half years old. But that would need many more professional teachers and workers,” Zhang added.

Indeed, Chinese parents need good-quality, affordable and safe child care services near their homes. Many expressed excitement when the guidelines were released.

They now hope the government can work quickly to fulfill the demand.