Family Education Promotion Law of the PRC — Full English Translation (2022)

Adopted at the 17th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress on October 23, 2021

Effective: January 1, 2022

Table of Contents

Chapter I — General Provisions

Article 1 — This Law is enacted for the purposes of carrying forward the fine tradition of the Chinese nation of valuing family education, guiding the whole society to pay attention to family, tutoring, and family tradition, enhancing family happiness and social harmony, and cultivating socialist builders and successors with all-round development in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education.

Article 2 — For the purposes of this Law, family education refers to the cultivation, guidance, and influence provided by parents or other guardians to minors in terms of moral character, physical quality, life skills, cultural accomplishment, and behavioral habits, so as to promote their comprehensive and healthy development.

Article 3 — Family education shall take establishing morality and cultivating people as the fundamental task, cultivate and practice the core values of socialism, carry forward the fine traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture of the Chinese nation, and promote the healthy growth of minors.

Article 4 — Parents or other guardians of minors shall be responsible for implementing family education. The State and society shall provide guidance, support, and services for family education.

Article 5 — The State shall establish a family education guidance service system and incorporate family education into the urban and rural public service system and the overall plan for economic and social development.

Chapter II — Family Responsibilities

Article 6 — Parents or other guardians of minors shall establish a sense of responsibility as the first teacher of the family, and undertake the principal responsibility of educating minors, using correct thoughts, methods, and conduct to educate minors to develop good thoughts, conduct, and habits.

Article 7 — Parents or other guardians shall cultivate minors’ awareness of safeguarding national unity, forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, and having a family and country sentiment.

Article 8 — Parents or other guardians shall teach minors to respect the elderly, care for the young, be industrious and thrifty, be united and helpful, be honest and trustworthy, and have good social morality.

Article 9 — Parents or other guardians shall reasonably use the following methods to carry out family education:

(1) Personal instruction and example by parents;

(2) Joint participation of parents and children;

(3) Respecting the laws of physical and mental development and individual differences of minors;

(4) Respecting the right of minors to participate in family affairs and express opinions;

(5) Combining strictness with kindness, care and strict requirements equally; and

(6) Other reasonable methods conducive to the comprehensive development of minors.

Article 10 — Parents or other guardians shall not discriminate against minors on the basis of gender, physical condition, intelligence, or other factors. Domestic violence shall be prohibited; no coercion, inducement, or incitement shall be used to cause minors to engage in bad behavior or illegal and criminal activities.

Chapter III — State Support

Article 11 — The State Council shall organize relevant departments to formulate, revise, and promptly promulgate a national family education guidance outline. The people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall compile family education guidance handbooks adapted to local conditions.

Article 12 — The people’s governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the supervision and administration of family education guidance service institutions, formulate standards and norms for family education guidance services, and cultivate professional family education guidance service teams.

Article 13 — Primary and secondary schools and kindergartens shall incorporate family education guidance services into their work plans, as part of teachers’ professional training and work content, and periodically organize public welfare family education guidance services and practical activities.

Article 14 — Medical and health institutions such as maternal and child health institutions, early childhood care service institutions, and children’s welfare institutions shall provide scientific parenting guidance and family education guidance services to parents or other guardians.

Article 15 — Where minors have committed serious misconduct or crime, the public security organs, people’s procuratorates, and people’s courts may, as the circumstances require, admonish the parents or other guardians and may order them to receive family education guidance.

Chapter IV — Social Coordination

Article 16 — Residents’ committees and villagers’ committees may rely on urban and rural community public service facilities to establish community parent schools and other family education guidance service sites, and cooperate with family education guidance service institutions to organize family education knowledge publicity activities.

Article 17 — Public libraries, museums, cultural centers, memorial halls, art galleries, science and technology museums, sports venues, youth palaces, children’s activity centers, and other public cultural service institutions shall periodically organize public welfare family education publicity activities.

Article 18 — Enterprises, public institutions, and social organizations shall support their employees in participating in relevant family education service activities. Employers may include the implementation of family education as an element in the evaluation of civilized unit creation.

Article 19 — The State shall encourage social forces such as natural persons, legal persons, and unincorporated organizations to provide family education guidance services through donations, the establishment of public welfare funds, and volunteering in accordance with law.

Chapter V — Legal Liability

Article 20 — Where parents or other guardians of minors fail to correctly implement family education, infringing upon the lawful rights and interests of minors, the relevant social organizations shall admonish and stop such conduct, and provide family education guidance.

Article 21 — Where family education guidance service institutions engage in activities for profit in violation of law, the relevant competent department shall order rectification within a prescribed time limit; where the circumstances are serious, a fine shall be imposed and the institution shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification or its business license shall be revoked.

Article 22 — Where state organs or their staff members neglect their duties, abuse their authority, or engage in malpractice for personal gain in family education work, and such conduct constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with law; where the conduct does not constitute a crime, sanctions shall be imposed in accordance with law.

Chapter VI — Supplementary Provisions

Article 23 — This Law shall be effective as of January 1, 2022.