Changzhou kids to do 2 hours of weekly chores

The government in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, has asked parents and guardians to make their children do at least two hours of household chores a week.

The Changzhou Labor Education Promotion Regulation, which has been adopted by the local legislature, stipulates that parents and guardians should actively learn about labor education and supervise their children in doing household chores within their capabilities.

The regulation, which will take effect on Oct 1, is the first such local regulation in the country on labor education. It comes as central authorities have stressed on many occasions to promote the all-around development of students and cultivate their growth in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor pursuits.

Since the fall semester last year, primary and middle school students in China have had at least one labor education course every week to learn everything from everyday chores to 3D printing.

The curriculum standard for labor education issued by the Ministry of Education included detailed labor skills that students at different grade levels should master.

As part of their labor education, students should be organized to participate in daily household chores and in productive and service labor, and ensuring children learn these skills is the common responsibility of families, schools, society and the government, the Changzhou regulation said.

Schools should establish labor education curricula, expand teaching venues for labor education and ensure they have labor teachers and necessary equipment, it said.

The regulation asks for the establishment of a labor week each semester and requires primary and secondary schools to allocate special funds for labor education.

The regulation has become a hot topic on social media, with some saying it is necessary to teach young students basic household skills, and others questioning the effectiveness of the regulation and whether authorities need to make household chores compulsory.

Zhou Xiaoyu, the mother of a seventh grader in Changzhou's Xinbei district, doesn't approve of the regulation.

"Requiring students to do household chores may stimulate rebelliousness," Zhou said. "Local regulations should stay out of family affairs, and boundaries should be clarified. There are many ways to encourage students to do household chores, but orders from authorities are not one of them."

Wang Xing, a senior high school student in Changzhou who is preparing for the college entrance examination, said she doesn't have time for household chores, though she wants to help her parents.

"I hardly have any classmates who do household chores," she said. "I just have a few hours to relax every weekend, and doing household chores certainly is not on my to-do list."

Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said to make sure labor education is effective, parents' participation is very important.

Asking parents to supervise students to do two hours of chores every week is a basic requirement for family education, and the two-hour requirement is a very low one, he said.

"However, for a long time, many parents have only focused on students' academic scores and overlooked teaching students basic social and life skills, which is why more attention should be given to students' labor education, which helps students master necessary skills and learn to appreciate the value of labor."

More importantly, labor education can also improve students' mental and physical health. Otherwise, students with good academic performance and few life skills are unlikely to be successful, he added.