What obligations do parents have to rear and educate their minor children?

Significance of parents’ duty to rear and educate their minor children

Rearing

The parents shall bear their legal duty to minor children on economic support and care in life.

Education

Parents shall cultivate the minor children in the ideological, moral, learning, and family life.

Contents

1 Parents or other guardians shall create a good and harmonious family environment, as well as fulfill their guardianship duties and fosterage obligations to minors according to the law.

2 Parents or other guardians shall pay attention to minors' physiological and psychological conditions as well as their conducts and habits, cultivate and influence the minors in respect of healthy ideology, good morality and proper methods.

3 They shall not maltreat or forsake the minors, nor shall they discriminate against female or handicapped minors.

4 Parents or other guardians shall be equipped with family education knowledge, correctly perform guardianship duties, foster and educate minors.

5 The parents shall respect the minors' right to receive education.

6 A parent or other guardian shall, when making a decision relevant to a minor's rights and interests on the basis of the minor's age and intellect development status, tell the minor himself, and listen to his opinions.

7 The parents may not permit or force the minors to marry.

8 Where a parent is unable to perform his guardianship duties to a minor because of leaving his hometown to work or due to other reasons, he shall entrust another adult with the capacity of guardianship to guard the minor on his behalf.

9 The parents shall not permit their children or juveniles under 16 years old to engage in child labor.

10 The opening of mail of a minor child more than 10 years old shall not be permitted.

11 As guardians of minor children, parents shall bear the responsibility as legal representative.

Liability for failure to perform duties

A Where a parent or other guardian fails to perform his guardianship duties according to the law, or infringes on the lawful rights and interests of any minor, he shall be exhorted to perform the duties or be stopped from doing so by the entity where he works, by the residents' committee, or by the villagers' committee; if his acts constitute a violation of the public security administration, he shall be given administrative penalties by the public security organ according to the law.

B Where the parents or any other legal custodian of school-age children or adolescents fail to send them to receive compulsory education according to the provisions of the present law without justifiable reasons, they shall be criticized by the township-level people's government or the educational administrative department of the county-level people's government of the locality and be ordered thereby to make a correction.

The parents also have the obligation to support and educate adult children in special cases.

1 Whoever have lost or incompletely lost the work ability, unable to maintain their normal life with his/her income.

2 Whoever are still accepting high school or inferior education.

3 Whoever truly have no ability to live an independent life.