Safety, protection shouldn't be remote for rural children
- Source: Global Times
- [02:13 February 26 2010]
- Comments
By Wu Meng
It isn't news to say that most rural areas in China are remote. Narrow roads, old buses, shabby houses – all these show the undeveloped nature of rural life.
That, however, doesn't explain the loss of five young lives. On February 18, the fifth day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, five children around the age of 10 went missing in a small village in Tiantai county, Zhejiang Province. Four days later, five bodies were found in a reservoir and identified as the five children. The official autopsy identified drowning as the cause of death for all five.
What a tragic beginning for the year. In a village of only 400 residents, the news haunted everyone. Every villager was related to, or at least knew, one of the children. Once again, the safety of rural children in China was brought to public attention.
What's even more tragic is that the reservoir is only 600 meters away from the childrens' homes. The tragedy could have been prevented if a bit more attention had been paid to the kids.
This is not an isolated case. On November 12 last year, a fireworks factory blew up in Yanghui county, Guangzhou. The 13 injured and one dead were all children between 7 and 15, save for one elderly woman. With their parents laboring as migrant workers in big cities, these children were mostly living with their grandparents, who were obviously tempted to make some money from the children's labor.
Country fields, reservoirs, fireworks factories – the countryside is a danger zone for the young and innocent. Rural children face a tough road. Without proper education on safety, naturally they won't pay much attention to it. Without any public safety facilities, a simple water pond turned out to be the place where five young lives ended.
For years, the main focus on rural areas has been economic development. With no doubt, the development level and living standard of the rural population are much lower than those of urban residents. But the lagging development is even more pronounced in terms of safety and self-protection education for children.
A tragedy is a good lesson to learn from. But we cannot just base our experience or legislation on tragedies. Compared to the children who live in big cities, rural kids don't have as many toys to play with, nor do they get a good quality education from often under-funded and poorly equipped local schools.
Their parents are often away working in the cities, or struggling with the hard burdens of farming work, and have less time for them. Born with less luxury and brought up with tough life experiences, the least that society can do for these children is protect them.
If we start paying attention to this group only when something terrible happens, more tragedies can be expected.
