Lack of schools puts couples off having 2nd child
Print Edition
TO have a second child or not is the question for many young Chinese couples as they hesitate before facing the fierce competition for public services.
Huang Xiaoli, a mother in Hefei, capital of east China’s Anhui Province, was excited when she heard about the second-child policy in October. Building on the happiness brought by their child, she and her husband were eager to have another, but their enthusiasm quickly went cold as they tried to find a kindergarten for their first born.
“Public kindergartens are too far; good private ones too expensive; others are substandard,” she said.
“How can we have another child when it is so hard to find a kindergarten for the one we already have?” Huang said.
China’s public service system developed in tandem with the strict one-child policy.
Annual child births have increased by about 1 million since couples without siblings were allowed to have a second child in 2013. Now, any couple can have two children and the birth rate is expected to grow, straining already burdened public services, especially education.
In Nanqi area of Hefei, only a few dozen families had a second child before the new policy was introduced, now the number has grown to more than 400, said social worker Yu Zhiqiang.
The residential area, which is home to 90,000 people, has 10 kindergartens, five primary schools, one high school, but no junior middle school.
“We can barely meet the need for education at the moment, but problems will emerge as more children reach school age.”
“Today’s parents want good schools,” Wang Ming, head of elementary education research at the Ministry of Education.
As well as building more schools, it is vital to improve the quality and competence of teachers, Wang said.
If the search for a kindergarten curbed Huang’s enthusiasm for a second child, the endless queue for obstetric checks was a deadly blow. She has neither time nor stamina to wait in line. Competition is unbearable, before the second child is even conceived.
Since the policy change, family planners tasked to prevent births have turned into medical workers.
“As our work changes, we have to learn new skills,” said family planner Luo Qiao.
Luo and her colleagues organize lectures and workshops on maternal health, care and immunization of newborns as well as pre-pregnancy checks.
Many women over 35 are now planning a second child, bringing different challenges, Luo said.
China’s health care in general will be burdened with much greater demand in the long term. People in Nanqi already need to travel long distances to bigger hospitals as the area has only one public clinic and five small private clinics.
The second-child policy may give rise to even more social problems such as discrimination against women in the job market.
“China needs to modify its laws and policies, enhance social security and improve public services,” sociologist Fan Hesheng said.
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