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■China Economic Times reporter Lin Chunxia
A few days ago, the "Sunshine Beginning: 100,000 Rural Infants and Young Children Guidance Action Plan" initiated by the China Development Research Foundation was officially launched. Zhang Junkuo, Chairman of the China Development Research Foundation, Deputy Director of the Proposal Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and former Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said at the meeting that research and practice at home and abroad have shown that investing in early childhood development plays an important fundamental role in the improvement of human capital and the high-quality development of the population. The earlier the investment in child development, the lower the cost and the higher the return. The launch of the "Sunshine Start Action Plan" can cultivate new human capital advantages for China's future development, and truly realize the high-quality development of the population to support Chinese-style modernization.
Zhang Junkuo has participated in many child development exchange seminars organized by the China Development Research Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the "Foundation"), and he believes that this activity is particularly special and meaningful. He, like many of the guests attending the conference, has a common identity - the individual initiator of the "Sunshine Start Action Plan". At present, the "Sunshine Start Action Plan" has been supported by more than 80 caring people from all walks of life and enterprises.
Zhang Junkuo believes that since the reform and opening up, especially after socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, China's economy and society have achieved all-round development. However, there is still a problem of uneven development between urban and rural areas and between regions, and it is clearly reflected in children. With the strong support of all sectors of society, since 2005, the Foundation has been promoting social equity and interrupting the intergenerational transmission of poverty, and has carried out a large number of experimental and policy research and projects to improve the development of children in China, especially the many left-behind children in underdeveloped rural areas.
According to Zhang Junkuo, the Foundation's social experiment project on child development is characterized by "accessible services, scientific methods, reasonable costs, and quality assurance", with the main goal of "pursuing fair and high-quality child development", and with the slogan of "a sunny starting point for every child", emphasizing the whole process of intervention from pregnancy to employment, involving various fields such as nutrition, parenting, education, protection, and mental health of child development, with rural children in underdeveloped areas as the main target. Different public welfare programs are designed for different age groups.
At present, the Foundation is running a total of 15 social pilot projects for child development, covering 65 counties across the country, benefiting about 4.1 million children, and leveraging more than 200 billion yuan of central and local financial funds. The influence of the Foundation's projects has been continuously enhanced, the pilot content has continued to expand, the scope of benefits has been expanded, and the public policy formulation has been successfully promoted.
Zhang Junkuo also said that among the many children's projects of the foundation, the development project for rural children aged 0-3 is particularly worthy of attention in the context of today's declining birthrate, aging population and regional population increase and decrease. In 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping made it clear at the first meeting of the 20th Central Financial and Economic Commission that it is necessary to support Chinese-style modernization with high-quality population development. Research and practice at home and abroad have shown that investing in early childhood development plays an important fundamental role in the improvement of human capital and the high-quality development of the population. Brain science and neuroscience research have also proved that the first 1000 days of life are the most rapid development period of the brain and nervous system, and this period of brain and nervous system is the most plastic, which is the sensitive period and window period for intervention. The famous return on investment curve proposed by Nobel laureate Professor James Heckman shows that the earlier the investment in child development, the lower the cost and the higher the return.
Zhang Junkuo further analyzed and pointed out that objectively speaking, in recent years, the health, nutrition, growth and development of children in the mainland have continued to improve, the maternal and child health service network has been gradually improved, and the level of childcare and learning and education has been continuously improved. However, it should not be ignored that there are still shortcomings in the development of human resources in the early childhood stage of the mainland, and the investment in early childhood development is still relatively small, which is particularly prominent in rural and underdeveloped areas. Relevant surveys show that there is a significant gap between the comprehensive physical and mental development ability of children aged 0-3 in poverty alleviation areas and the national average. Rural families in underdeveloped areas have an urgent need for parenting guidance services, but the market is difficult to provide, and new paths need to be explored urgently.
In an attempt to solve this problem, in 2015, the Foundation launched the "Smart Education China: Early Childhood Education in Mountain Villages" pilot project, which uses the method of home-based parenting guidance, and provides weekly home-based parenting guidance services for rural families by trained and locally recruited village-level childcare counselors, which has been piloted in 19 counties in 10 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country, benefiting more than 40,000 rural infants and young children, and has made positive progress.
Zhang Junkuo has long been concerned about the parenting of infants and young children in rural areas, and once went to Bijie, Guizhou Province to investigate the development of local early childhood care projects, and left a deep impression on the positive impact of the project on children and caregivers. At this year's National People's Congress and the National People's Congress, he also submitted a proposal, suggesting that the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, the National Health Commission and other departments set up a "rural early childhood care project in underdeveloped areas", clarify policy objectives, beneficiary groups, capital investment, implementation plans, etc., and promote the implementation of early childhood care projects.
In order to allow more rural infants and young children to enjoy early childhood care services, promote the formulation and introduction of relevant policies, and raise the development level of rural infants and young children to the national average, the Foundation and its partners jointly launched the "Sunshine Beginning: 100,000 Rural Infants and Young Children Guidance Action Plan" at the beginning of this year, which plans to increase the number of beneficiaries to 100,000 children, and achieve the goal of "thousands of towns and villages", achieving more significant social and policy impact.
In Zhang Junkuo's view, local finances are relatively tight at present, but the more difficult the time, the more we must look forward, and the more we must see the long-term value of investing in people, especially children. As Premier Li Qiang said, we should make more value judgments of "should or shouldn" in everything, and we should not simply make technical judgments of "whether it can be done".
Therefore, in order to better publicize the project and mobilize social forces to participate, the Foundation held this launching ceremony, inviting important corporate partners, individual sponsors, and representatives of relevant organizations to participate in the event to introduce the vision, goals and specific implementation plan of the "Sunshine Start Action Plan" to the public.
Zhang Junkuo said that the launching ceremony will enhance the guests' understanding of the "Sunshine Start Action Plan" of the China Development Research Foundation, promote the understanding of the importance of early childhood care in rural areas, and promote exchanges and cooperation between social forces in the field of early childhood development. With the active participation of caring people and institutions from all walks of life, and the ability of governments at all levels to invest more in early childhood development, we can cultivate new human capital advantages for China's future development and truly realize the high-quality development of the population to support China's modernization. He wished every rural child a starting point full of sunshine and hope.
Chief Producer丨Wang Hui and Che Haigang
Producer丨Li Piguang, Wang Yu, Liu Weimin
Editor-in-Chief丨Mao Jinghui Editor丨Gu Yun