Home visits offer students personal touch

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Education recently launched a program providing guidance to more than 500,000 families of kindergarten, primary and secondary school students.

Launched in 2012, the "mobile education lecture hall" has held hundreds of free public lectures for more than 10,000 parents, inviting leading experts, scholars and teachers to answer questions.

In Shandong province, research centers and mentor training bases have been set up with the help of universities, research institutions or internet platforms.

Some places are fast-tracking local legislation on family education. Since the implementation of the Chongqing Family Education Promotion Ordinance in September 2016, public security agencies have admonished 1,323 parents or guardians for inappropriate family education.

Family education is also regarded as crucial for cultivating and promoting socialist core values among China's youth.

Qi Zhenjun, principal of the Primary School Affiliated to Beijing Chaoyang Teachers College, believes the essence of traditional Chinese family culture, such as filial piety, should be creatively applied to modern family education.

In his school, parents volunteer to be guest speakers at flag-raising ceremonies, sharing their life and work experience with students. The school also encourages students and their families to take part in volunteer services in the community.

"Parents' mindsets and the home environment are thought to influence child development greatly. Parents can set a good example for their children and help instill social responsibility through these activities," Qi says.

Some Chinese parents only focus on intellectual education, sending their kids to extracurricular classes in the hope of raising their test scores.

"Moral education and character building should not be neglected," says Qi. "They are the essence of family education, which helps prepare children for the future."