"Why do many urban parents desperately invest in their children"
Invest in children's next poverty reduction issue
China has announced that it has achieved the goal of eradicating absolute poverty. Some people who have long been concerned about the well-being of children suggest that the next step is to increase investment in children to block the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
On July 24, the 7th International Symposium on Anti-Poverty and Child Development, under the guidance of the Development Research Center of the State Council and sponsored by the China Development Research Foundation, was held in Beijing.
Li Shi, a senior professor of liberal arts at Zhejiang University, suggested at the meeting that the country should make “child poverty” an important issue for poverty alleviation.
He said that in 2021, my country will begin the transition from eradicating absolute poverty to alleviating relative poverty, and alleviating the relative poverty of children should be the top priority.
Providing children with necessary development opportunities is conducive to breaking through the barriers of intergenerational transmission of poverty.
Li Shi introduced their findings: Children’s multidimensional poverty incidence is higher than that of adults, and solving economic poverty can only solve part of the problem.
When society is at a low income stage, child poverty is more manifested in nutrition; as income increases, it is more manifested in education, health, and medical care.
The theme of this seminar is "Investing in children to achieve sustainable and prosperous development."
Nobel Prize winner James Heckman was one of the participants.
According to his long-term research, investing 1 dollar in the early stages of life can get more than ten times the return. The older the age, the lower the return on investment.
This "Heckman curve" verifies the argument that "investing in children is investing in the future."
Lu Mai, vice chairman of the China Development Research Foundation, pointed out that most of the research results on early childhood brain development come from abroad. Although there is a saying in China that "three years old look older," many people do not really pay attention to it.
Based on the foundation’s exploration in the field of early childhood development, Lu Mai suggested that the country incorporate early childhood development into the country’s rural revitalization plan. Specifically, a special financial support for early development services for children aged 0-3 in poverty-stricken areas can be established to serve The most vulnerable children provide home care services.
Set up a special project to support the development of village-level preschool education in poverty alleviation areas, and open village-level kindergartens nearby.
Improve the nutrition and health of children in poverty-stricken areas, and provide meals for schools and kindergartens.
He also suggested that the Ministry of Finance, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the Rural Revitalization Bureau coordinate research on child development issues.
"I very much agree with Lu Mai's proposal to include child development in the rural revitalization plan." Li Shi said, "If the development of rural children cannot be effectively improved, after 20 years, these people are all laborers, which will definitely affect the future. Development issues. The new poverty of children will produce poverty in the future society, and the lag in the development of new children will have a great impact on future development. Investment in rural areas is not a simple investment in materials, and must be invested in people. The focus is on early childhood development. A large number of studies have shown that early childhood investment has the highest rate of return. Why do many urban parents desperately invest in their children?"
Li Shi said that on this issue, society and families have different obligations. The most important thing is that child development requires a lot of public investment, which cannot be solved by one department. It is best to set up a national coordination committee to promote it. .
Wang Sangui, member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the State Council’s Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development, and dean of the Chinese Academy of Poverty Alleviation, Renmin University of China, has visited many underdeveloped areas.
In a place in the west, he found that a road that mainly served the population of more than 1,000 in three villages cost more than 30 million yuan.
He said that such a large investment is definitely needed, and the country has invested heavily in poverty alleviation these years.
He also pointed out that it is necessary to use the intensity and determination of poverty alleviation and learn from the innovative methods of targeted poverty alleviation to solve the problems of early childhood development in rural and remote areas.
When funds are invested in infrastructure, they must support local economic development or human activities to have a return. If the local population decreases, many investments will not be able to give full play to their effects.
But investment in people follows people and can work everywhere.
At this seminar, some of China's achievements in the field of child development aroused discussion.
China adheres to the principle of "children first", which has significantly improved children's health and education.
The mortality rate of children under 5 years of age has continued to decline, and the gross enrollment rate of pre-school education has rapidly increased to over 85%.
Xia Zehan, the representative of UNESCO to China, pointed out that the global preschool education enrollment rate is 61.5%, and China's experience has been used for reference by other countries.
Li Minyi, associate professor of the Institute of Preschool Education of Beijing Normal University, pointed out that increasing the rate of preschool education enrollment is the common orientation of high-income and middle- and high-income countries around the world.
"Half-ninety people who travel a hundred miles", the next step should be to increase the proportion of financial pre-school education funds. Of the financial education funds, at least 10% should be invested in pre-school education.
For children under 3 years of age, my country’s "14th Five-Year Plan" has added a new indicator-the number of infants and toddlers under 3 years old per 1,000 population.
By 2025, this indicator will increase from the current 1.8 to 4.5.
The recently issued "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Optimizing Childbearing Policies to Promote Long-term and Balanced Population Development" emphasizes that infant care services should be included in the economic and social development plan.
He Dan, director of the China Population and Development Research Center, pointed out that the enrollment rate in our country is only 5.5%, but about 35% of families in need of childcare.
At present, it is necessary to give full play to the guiding role of planning and the guiding role of central financial investment to promote social forces to participate in inclusive childcare services.
She said that in the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, for every 10% increase in the enrollment rate, the total fertility rate can increase by 0.08.
International experience shows that investment in childcare services can increase people’s willingness to have children.
Investment in children involves many fields such as nutrition, medical care, and education.
Zhao Changwen, director of the China International Development Knowledge Center, pointed out that from an economic perspective, the early stages of developing countries emphasized the investment of material capital.
When the shortcomings are gradually made up, the importance of human capital becomes more prominent.
Sociologically speaking, for a society to be full of vitality, it must be fluid.
"I am particularly concerned about vertical mobility, that is, mobility from the bottom up. Children's education determines the level of vertical mobility in society in a great sense... China's anti-poverty and children's cause in the past few years, if there is anything In terms of experience, these two aspects are very important."
In the past six years, Li Xiaoyun, a senior chair professor of liberal arts at China Agricultural University, has conducted poverty reduction experiments in Hebian Village, a former impoverished village in Mengla County, Yunnan Province, and was named "National Advanced Individual in Poverty Alleviation".
According to his observation, early childhood development in poverty alleviation areas is an area highly sensitive to "the production and reproduction of poverty." Therefore, to consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation, one should not just focus on industry and income.
When Li Xiaoyun first arrived in Hebian Village, he found that the children in the village were barefoot, had no preschool education, and did not speak Mandarin well.
The principal of the local elementary school told him that the children in Hebian Village are of poor quality.
His comprehensive poverty management practices include investment in children: a children’s activity center has been built in the village to carry out early childhood education and provide nutritious meals.
A few years later, elementary school teachers reported that the quality of children in Hebian Village was "the highest".
"We are now talking about common prosperity, and everyone is more concerned about income distribution. I personally think that to build a common prosperity society, we should first start from the perspective of social and public service inequality." Li Xiaoyun said, "I especially appeal to today's rural areas. The revitalization plan focuses on early childhood development. This is a major event related to the future of the Chinese nation and to our goal of achieving a modern socialist country."
China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter Zhang Guo Source: China Youth Daily
Edition 02 on July 26, 2021