Focusing on building a child-friendly society, the CPPCC Hubei Provincial Committee provides suggestions and strategies

China News Service, Wuhan, October 9 (Reporter Ma Furong) The Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held a special democratic supervision meeting on the 9th, inviting CPPCC members, experts and scholars to provide suggestions and suggestions focusing on "accelerating the improvement of the fertility support policy system and building a fertility-friendly society."

Zhang Baiqing, Vice Chairman of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, suggested in his keynote speech that free pre-pregnancy check-ups and eugenic screenings should be made available to reduce the cost of reproductive medical care; encourage the development of flexible service models such as half-day care, timed care, extended care, and weekend care; promote the construction of supporting childcare centers in government agencies, enterprises, institutions, and communities, with a focus on making up for the shortcomings in low-age care; and promote flexible employment models such as flexible work systems, home offices, and "mother posts."

"Currently, the high cost of education has become an important factor restricting the willingness to have children." Liu Li, deputy director of the Institute of Basic Education and Preschool Education of the Hubei Academy of Educational Sciences, proposed to steadily expand the coverage of free education and gradually realize full tuition exemption for preschool and high school; improve the education subsidy and exemption policy for low-income and multi-child families, increase the annual living allowance for low-income families per child; build a diversified custody supply system with "school-based, community supplement, and social participation" to provide "15-minute nearby custody" service.

According to Wu Shifeng, a member of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, young people are the main force in the long-term balanced development of the population. It is necessary to improve youth development promotion policies, optimize the employment and entrepreneurship environment, and consolidate the foundation of a child-friendly economy. In areas where young people live together and provide affordable housing, support the construction of inclusive child care centers, community kindergartens, community health service centers, convenient shopping malls and cultural and sports spaces, improve elderly care and child care convenience services, and create a youth-friendly living scene that is suitable for living, marriage and education.

Zhang Huazhong, a member of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Tianmen Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference, suggested that various localities should be encouraged to appropriately increase child care subsidies based on economic development and living standards, and explore policies such as one-child subsidies, two-child subsidies, and three-child policies to further increase young people's enthusiasm for childbearing. At the same time, special inspections on maternity rights will be carried out to ensure that corporate women will not have their salaries reduced or fired after becoming pregnant.

Focusing on improving the cost-sharing mechanism for childbirth and childcare, Cheng Dening, a professor at Wuhan University’s Center for Population, Resources and Environmental Economics, proposed to give full play to the primary role of public finance in childbirth and childcare, and shift more financial resources to areas of people’s livelihood such as childbirth, medical care, education, housing security, etc.; establish a financing model shared by the government, enterprises and individuals, and the government assumes more financing responsibilities through budgets and special allocations to ensure the inclusiveness and sustainability of the maternity insurance system.