Demographer suggests less school education for women to give birth

A famous Chinese demographer recently suggested reducing the duration of basic education in China from 12 years to 10 years so that girls could have more time to have a child or develop a career.

The statement from Liang Jianzhang, CEO of China’s leading travel agency and an applied economics professor at Peking University, sparked controversy online after his interview video circulated on Sina Weibo on Monday.

In this video, which Liang made with Sina’s Finance channel on Sunday, he talked about the importance of education.

“If we reduce basic education from 12 years to 10 years... and girls can have more time to give birth to babies or develop their career,” Liang said in this interview.

Some netizens accused Liang of turning women into “reproduction machines.”

China has seen a drop in its annual birth rate from 1,295 to 1,243 per 100,000 people in early 2018 even though all Chinese couples have been allowed two children, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

“Why should girls graduate earlier to give birth to babies?” a Weibo user using the name zhinigulaifeng commented on Tuesday, and 821 others liked this comment.

He said China needs to introduce stronger support for women and children’s education, and more maternity benefits as incentives to families to have more children.

It is good that Chinese parents attach importance to family education, but the pressure of it has increased the cost of raising a child and reduced parents’ willingness to have more children, Liang said.

Liang urged China to give stronger support for women and children’s education.