During the executive meeting of China’s State Council held on the 27th of January, it was decided to strengthen the care and the protection offered to “left-behind” children in rural areas. The premier of the State Council Li Keqiang expressed his wish that left-behind children should not be allowed to become a source of pain for their families and society.
”China has witnessed a special kind of development with both splendid gains and severe problems”, Li said. “On the one hand, a large number of migrant workers from the rural areas have made great contribution to the rise of China’s economy and urbanization. On the other hand, thousands of left-behind children have suffered from the pain of separation from their parents who have to go to places miles away for work. This phenomenon is hard to eliminate in a short time.
The notion of ‘family’ is of vital importance for Chinese people. Most migrant workers go out to work, hoping to give their children a better life to live and take responsibility for their families. In order to solve this problem, the whole of society should get involved in caring for the rural left-behind children by improving the services system and supporting the social workers and NGOs that help them. But the most important thing is to reduce the number of left-behind children by promoting the education of migrant workers and encouraging them to start businesses back in their countryside.”
