Govt should be fully committed to children safety
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E-mail Xinhua, August 6, 2013
Since July 31, 21 children in China have drowned, sounding the alarm for the government to fully commit to improving children's safety and preventing similar incidents from happening in the future.
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Five students at a local junior high school in central China's Hunan Province drowned while swimming in a reservoir in Wentang Township on August 1, 2013. [File photo] |
The latest accident occurred in central China's Hunan Province on Thursday, when five students at a local junior high school drowned while swimming in a reservoir in Wentang Township.
Drowning is one of the major causes of death among children in China. Figures from the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) show that drowning caused 57 percent of the total accidental deaths among children under the age of 14 in 2011.
Rural-urban disparities in these statistics are notable, as 83 percent of the drowned children were from rural areas, or four times the amount of urban drowning victims, according to the ACWF.
Many of the children who have drowned were "left-behind children" whose migrant worker parents left them with friends or relatives so they could find work in cities far from home.
An apparent lack of adult supervision and safety awareness contributed to the children's deaths, but the root of the problem lies in the uneven distribution of social resources, especially educational resources, between urban and rural areas.
During the summer, children living in cities have access to swimming pools and other recreational facilities. Various summer camps, training courses and other activities greatly enrich their vacation time as well.
However, children from rural regions don't have access to many of these facilities and activities. For them, swimming or fishing in ponds and rivers is a great treat.
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