China Issues Sweeping Policies to Strengthen Minor Protection and Education
On the eve of International Children’s Day, multiple Chinese government departments issued a coordinated set of policy documents on May 31 aimed at strengthening ideological and behavioral education for minors, improving services for migrant and left-behind children, and protecting the legal rights of disadvantaged minors. The three-pronged policy push involves the Supreme People’s Court, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and 27 other departments, signaling a high-level, cross-sectoral approach to child welfare.
Four Departments Issue Guidance on Ideological and Behavioral Education
The Supreme People’s Court, Ministry of Education, Communist Youth League Central Committee, and All-China Women’s Federation jointly released a “Work Guide on Using Cases as Lessons to Strengthen Ideological and Behavioral Education Guidance for Minors,” according to Xinhua News. The document, grounded in China’s Minor Protection Law and Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency Law, identifies 12 key focus areas for education and guidance, including strengthening legal awareness, cultivating empathy, preventing entitlement mentality, addressing internet addiction, and staying away from drugs.
The guide aims to implement the fundamental task of “fostering virtue through education” (立德树人) and improve the family-school-society collaborative education system. Courts at all levels, education departments, Communist Youth League organizations, and Women’s Federation branches will integrate ideological, moral, and behavioral norm education into daily life, with the goal of cultivating “socialist builders and successors who are well-developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor-wise.”
27 Departments Mobilize for Migrant and Left-Behind Children
In a separate initiative, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Central Social Work Department, Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and 24 other departments — 27 in total — jointly issued a notice requiring strengthened “precise screening, accurate filing, and meticulous services” for migrant children (流动儿童) and left-behind children (留守儿童), as reported by People’s Daily.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs will lead a cross-departmental data comparison across education enrollment records, household registration, vaccination records, and disability certification databases. Where data remains missing, township-level child supervisors and village-level child directors will conduct door-to-door verification, with a deadline of September 2026 for data completion.
Under the “one person, one file” (一人一档) standard, children facing difficulties in living, medical care, or education — as well as left-behind children lacking guardianship — will be designated as key care service targets. A dynamic update mechanism of “monthly visits, quarterly updates, annual reviews” will maintain current records. The notice also mandates that education departments implement compulsory education policies based on residence permits, improve policies for children of migrant workers to take local entrance exams, and ensure basic medical services through strengthened policy coordination between inflow areas.
Ministry of Civil Affairs Launches Special Action for Disadvantaged Minors
The Ministry of Civil Affairs also issued a notice launching a one-year nationwide “Quality and Efficiency Improvement” (提质增效) special action for minor rescue and protection institutions, according to Xinhua News. The action, which will transition to normal operations after the first year, requires institutions to use new data modules in the National Child Welfare Information System and complete batch data updates by October 2026.
Institutions must select at least one area for special service development based on local needs, including guardianship support, publicity and education, mental health care, autism care services, or social integration support. Local civil affairs departments are encouraged to use government procurement of services to guide grassroots social work stations in assisting with these efforts.
On safety, the notice requires risk inspections focusing on fire safety, food safety, building safety, electrical safety, and facility equipment, with hazards to be entered into the system by July 2026. Institutions must establish internal accident hazard reporting mechanisms and conduct at least one comprehensive or special emergency drill annually.
Coordinated Push Ahead of Children’s Day
The simultaneous release of three major policy documents on May 31 — the eve of International Children’s Day (June 1) — is a deliberate and symbolic timing, a common practice for Chinese policy announcements aimed at maximizing public attention. The actions build on the revised Minor Protection Law and Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency Law, both of which took effect on June 1, 2021, and follow the February 2026 publication of the Interim Measures for the Management of Minor Rescue and Protection Institutions.
China has approximately 9.02 million rural left-behind children, concentrated in provinces such as Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Anhui, Henan, Hunan, and Hubei. Recent data from Hubei Province showed the first year-on-year decline in both prosecutions for crimes against minors and juvenile crime cases in five years, suggesting ongoing policy efforts are yielding results.
What to Watch
The effectiveness of these policies will depend on implementation at the local level, particularly the complex cross-departmental coordination required for the 27-department notice and the allocation of resources for the special action on minor rescue and protection institutions. The September 2026 deadline for data completion and the October 2026 deadline for system updates will serve as early benchmarks for assessing progress.