❃ Zi Qiu's Reflection ( 2 )

ONE-CHILD POLICY 

The one-child policy started in China and was instituted on September 25, 1980. The law was set because in 1980, the new regime of Chinese leaders believed that forcibly restricting population growth would lead to greater economic prosperity. This policy restricts the majority of Chinese families to one child each, and if a child did not have a birth permit, the family would have to pay high fines, resulting in majority of families not wanting to have more than one child due to the punishments. 

PROS OF THE POLICY 

In the poor areas in China, there are far too many births and hence, if birth is controlled, quality of life will be raised. The parents will spend more attention and money on one child. Also, parents will not have to worry about feeding other children. Quality of life is improved and poverty can be eradicated. 
Secondly, there is limited space in China and the number of population is constantly increasing, hence there is need for birth reduction. 
It reduces competition for jobs, as places are limited. 

CONS OF THE POLICY 

It forces abortion and violates human rights. The proclamation of the International Conference on Human Rights in the year 1968 revealed that parents have the right to determine responsibly and freely the spacing and the number of children. When the one-child policy is executed, a lot of governments demand abortions once the pregnancy is found to have violated some regulations. 
There will be an imbalance of males and females in the society. There will also be more unmarried males as there are lesser females. 
There will be less people working and economy may suffer. 

HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS POLICY 

I feel that this policy was very helpful in managing the birth rates. There is less poverty and stress weighing on the parents. 

IN SINGAPORE 

Personally, I feel that there is no need for the one-child policy in Singapore. Our birth rates are controlled and the quality of life here is mostly high. There is enough space here in Singapore and in fact, we need more births. The government is even rewarding families with births with packages like SG50 package, etc. 

Thank you for reading! 

Zi Qiu