One meter height supports child friendly construction
2026-03-23
Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Office of the State Council Working Committee on Women and Children issued the "Opinions on Promoting Child Friendly Construction in the Whole Society" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which put forward requirements for the construction of a child friendly society from eight aspects, including improving public policy formulation, public facility construction, and public service supply, marking a new stage of China's child friendly construction from "urban construction pilot" to "whole society promotion". As early as 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Construction of Child Friendly Cities", which put forward detailed requirements for the construction of child friendly cities from five aspects: promoting social policy friendliness, promoting public service friendliness, promoting rights protection friendliness, promoting growth space friendliness, and promoting development environment friendliness. In recent years, child friendly communities, child friendly playgrounds, and child friendly hospitals have emerged in various regions. These changes have provided suitable conditions, environments, and services for children's growth and development. At present, 116 cities across the country have built child friendly cities, and an atmosphere of respecting children and prioritizing their development is taking shape in the whole society. The issuance of this Opinion expands child friendly construction from some cities to the entire society, including rural areas. It not only reflects the continuity and development of child friendly construction, but also responds to the inevitable requirement of "promoting child friendly construction and creating a caring social environment for the next generation" proposed in the 15th Five Year Plan. The highlight of the Opinion is that the focus on child friendly construction is more concentrated. Specifically, on the basis of the "Five Friendliness", it further focuses on public policies, public facilities, public services, and other aspects. In terms of public policy, it is emphasized to introduce a "1-meter height" child perspective and fully consider the needs of children when carrying out special planning for national land space and urban renewal; Major decisions and projects involving children's rights should consider and listen to the opinions of children and guardians. In the construction of public facilities, emphasis is placed on promoting the child friendly transformation of public spaces, with a focus on public service facilities, parks and green spaces, and travel environments. In terms of public services, we will gradually implement measures such as free preschool education and free HPV vaccination for girls over 13 years old, and improve the policy of providing free or preferential treatment for children in public services. The requirements of the "Opinions" embody the principles of prioritizing the development of children and being most beneficial to them. It is also a vivid portrayal of the concrete implementation of children's rights to survival, development, protection, and participation, and has a strong practical perspective. The introduction of the "1-meter height" child perspective and the listening to children's opinions on major decisions, viewing children as independent individuals with thoughts and values, reflects the transformation of social governance from a "manager centered" to a "user centered" perspective, and is a significant progress in social civilization. The gradual implementation of real measures such as free preschool education, which directly addresses social pain points such as high parenting costs, is a practical and beneficial measure to solve the problem of "one elderly and one young". Although policies are good, implementation is key. Firstly, it is necessary to facilitate the flow of experience in child friendly construction between regions. In the past few years, many provinces such as Zhejiang have accumulated valuable experience in the construction of child friendly cities. By fully sharing these pioneering experiences, we can form a joint force for the whole society to promote child friendly construction. The "Opinions" also proposed measures such as "pairing" cooperation for child friendly construction in provincial cities, support from the east to the central and western regions, and various forms of participation from various groups. Secondly, create an atmosphere of participation from the entire society. Child friendly construction is not only the responsibility of government departments, but also the responsibility of the whole society. For example, children's hospitals have implemented privacy measures for children's names on the waiting screen, and the railway department has innovatively launched a "children's walking cabin", which are all good methods worth learning from. Urban construction, cultural and sports departments should also use their brains, starting from their own advantages and conditions, to meet the needs of children and carry out child friendly transformation of social public facilities. The Opinion clearly states that promoting child friendly construction is a normalized and long-term work, without demonstration creation, acceptance and certification, and without awarding titles. This sends a clear signal that child friendly construction is not a phased work, but should be truly integrated into daily governance and become a systemic norm. Each region should form a normalized mechanism based on actual conditions, and carry out child friendly construction with a pragmatic attitude of "one stroke per day, no contribution from Tang". (New Society)
Edit:Momo Responsible editor:Chen zhaozhao
Source:China Education Daily
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