The seminar covered details of the Standards of Early Childhood Care and Development Demonstration Bases, which was issued by NHFPC in 2014. It also invited the country’s experts to design special courses about prenatal psychology, prenatal nutrition, childhood nutrition, family child care and growth assessment. Participants also visited the Suzhou Early Childhood Care and Development Center. Maternal and child health hospitals from Suzhou, Hubei province, Kunming and Fujian province also exchanged their experiences from different points of view.

During the training seminar, Zhang Shikun announced the Decision to Establish the Early Childhood Care and Development Professional Committee, and he issued employment certificates to members of the committee.

Qin Geng, the deputy head of NHFPC’s department of maternal and child health, gave a speech to conclude the seminar. Qin said provinces should establish a multi-disciplinary team of teachers as soon as possible. Based on the training model at the state level, provincial level training for teachers should be done. Details of this seminar should be reported to administration bodies, and provincial training plans for early child care and development should be drafted, with personnel training gradually carried out at different levels.

Meanwhile, weak points and disadvantages should be found in the early childhood care and development work, according to the Standards of Early Childhood Care and Development Demonstration Bases. It should improve the standards and policies gradually and raise the quality of service in early childhood care and development, to effectively meet the needs of the public, Qin said.

Participating teachers from different provinces in China said that the two-day training provided lots of content, with a tight schedule and rich information. Experiences from experts and local regions are valuable, which inspired their thinking and improved their skills. Participants said what they learned in the seminar would be helpful in their job in the future. More than 100 participants from maternal and child health centers across China, as well as officials and experts from NHFPC’s department of maternal and child health, attended the seminar.