China Works to Improve Children's LifeIn the early 1990s, China joined the "International Convention on Children's Rights". Then in 1992, China adopted its own ten-year "Development Program for Chinese Children in the 1990s".The program was based on the international convention and listed 24 goals for improving the life of children and teenagers. By 1999, China had achieved 14 of the targets laid out in the program. During the past decade, great strides have been made in child welfare and in reducing infant mortality. In order to cut the infant mortality rate further, the government is allocating 6 million US dollars over the next two years to fight tetanus amongst newborn babies in western regions. In education, China is also well on its way to meeting its goal of providing all children with nine years minimum of schooling. 23 million children attend 180 thousand kindergartens. And 200 million students attend over half a million primary and junior middle schools. This means 80 percent of the country's children now get nine years of schooling. In addition, there are over one thousand schools in China catering to the country's handicapped students. |
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