Ensuring access to affordable, reliable childcare for public benefit

BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Liu Fen, 34, a mother of two living in east China's Anhui Province, spent three years searching for a suitable nursery before her second child was born.

Liu said she had to strike a work-life balance. Given that hiring a babysitter is both costly and not entirely reassuring, she placed her hopes on childcare services.

Childcare provides caring services for infants and toddlers under the age of three. In some developed countries, about 30 percent of children in this age group are covered by such services, while the figure in Chinese cities is below 10 percent.

"A high-quality nursery is equipped with professional nurses, who are very caring and have a strong sense of responsibility. It can also offer scientific child-rearing guidance for parents," Liu said while describing an ideal nursery.

Liu's high expectations reflect a growing demand for modern and professional childcare services in China, particularly among working couples who don't have the traditional option of asking the grandparents for support.

Data from the National Health Commission (NHC) show that there are currently over 10 million children aged under three who are in need of such services.

To expand public-benefit childcare services that are accessible, affordable and reliable, China has adopted a series of measures, such as giving fiscal support and mobilizing social forces.

Between 2020 and 2023, China allocated 3.6 billion yuan (about 505 million U.S. dollars) of the central budget to develop public facilities. It also encouraged employers, communities and eligible kindergartens to offer childcare services to help take a load off the shoulders of parents.

Local governments, such as those in the eastern cities of Nanjing and Jinan, are also taking actions. Nanjing released a plan in September 2023 to ensure that each community and village has access to at least one childcare station, while Jinan has included childcare into its public service system.

As of February 2024, there were nearly 100,000 public childcare facilities in China, with a capacity of 2.6 slots per 1,000 people.

For young mother Chen Xiaomeng from the tropical city of Sanya, cost is a crucial factor in selecting a nursery. She once found herself at her wits' end looking at the high-priced nursery options around her, which had an average cost of 7,000 yuan per month.

Before long, a public childcare agency, the first such institution in south China's Hainan Province opened in early 2023, offering Chen a solution to her problem. The facility, only a 10-minute drive from her workplace, costs just 2,000-odd yuan per month.

Satisfied with the public nursery, Chen said the child can make more friends, have more fun and get accustomed to group life at an earlier age.

Since 2020, each new childcare slot can receive 10,000 yuan of central subsidies. Local governments have worked to further reduce the cost of public childcare institutions to ease parenting burdens and promote the sustainable development of the industry.

While the country has made notable progress in ensuring accessibility and affordability in childcare, supportive policy measures have been set out to improve the service quality.

The physical and mental health of children should be the top priority of nurseries, noted Xi Lan, director of a public early education institution in Shanghai, calling for intensifying safety management through regular training and inspection.

The NHC has issued a set of guidelines stipulating scientific and standard childcare services in areas ranging from nutrition, feeding and sleeping to conception, emotions and social factors.

A mother surnamed Wang living in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, sent her little daughter to a nearby public nursery when she was 14 months old. The facility integrates services that focus on infant health, growth evaluation, feeding guidance, disease prevention as well as special services for rehabilitated children.

"My whole family feels satisfied with it, be its charges, environment, course setting or infrastructure. We are quite reassured," said Wang.

China aims to reach the goal of ensuring 4.5 childcare slots per 1,000 persons by 2025. To that end, the country has vowed to continue supporting employer-run nurseries, community childcare facilities, and home-based childcare, according to a reform resolution adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee.

To underpin the growth of the childcare industry, it also stepped up efforts to foster talent at a faster pace. Childcare service-related majors have been added and updated in a major catalog for vocational education.

Wang Bojun, vice president of Shanghai Open University, suggested supplying professional training, strengthening talent cultivation, and improving the comprehensive capabilities of nurses to consolidate the foundation for public childcare services.