After media reports said that some kindergartens in Shaanxi and Jilin provinces had illegally administered antiviral drugs to students, parents across the country have become worried about their children's health. Even though local governments have been trying to find ways to prevent similar incidents, parents are desperate to ensure that their children enjoy a healthy childhood, says an article on chinanews.com. Excerpts:

China has issued a series of powerful laws and regulations to protect children's rights. This is because healthy physical and mental growth of children is important for the development of Chinese society.

But despite the strict laws and regulations, some children's rights have been compromised once in a while. The recent drug scandal shows that when it comes to children's healthy growth, society including families and, in particular, early education institutions neglect or ignore the laws and regulations to protect children's rights.

Such incidents reflect the lack of awareness among individuals and institutions to protect children's rights. It also shows that supervision over the implementation of such laws and regulations is not strict. The legal "dead zone" exposed by the Shaanxi-Jilin drug scandal should draw the attention of the highest authorities. For example, they should realize that some laws and regulations, apart from being too abstract to implement, have not been implemented strictly after being issued, making them good only on paper. So the authorities should take measures to ensure that such rules and regulations are good both in letter and spirit.

The protection of children in a civilized society governed by the rule of law should be comprehensive with strict and detailed rules and regulations. Chinese parents, like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, would love to see the country put in place a common social awareness program to ensure the protection of children. Also, they would like the protection net for their children to be strong and foolproof.

Although relevant departments have taken measures to minimize, as much as possible, the damage caused by the administering of drugs in Shaanxi and Jilin, precaution should be taken at all levels to prevent similar cases from occurring and jeopardizing the future of children. As they say, prevention is better than cure.

Children are not only the most precious possessions of their parents but also the future of the country. Today's children are living a much better life than the older generations, but a lot more needs to be done to safeguard their physical and mental health in order to ensure their healthy development.

There is need to create a social environment in which children grow up without fear of falling victims to drug scandals and other social and medical hazards. A society can be said to be advanced only if it can guarantee that its children have a healthy childhood.