School kids in Shanghai will soon be able to discuss some of their often asked queries in class, such as how they came to the world and what differences there are between a boy and a girl.

Primary and secondary schools in Shanghai are expected to include a new subject -- life science -- in their curricula, to enlighten kids on the origin of life, the basics about sex and puberty as well as how to maintain psychological health and endure hardships in life.

The new subject will be taught in compliance with the Chinese government's call to enhance moral education for the minors, who are expected to foster an appropriate attitude toward life, develop a healthy personality, cherish their own lives, love others and learn to be more responsible for themselves as well as to society.

Under the same moral education program, all schools in Shanghai are urged to build a team of professional psychological teachers and counselors and work out schemes on the kids' mental health care.

Moreover, the municipal government will step up its efforts with the establishment of a psychological crisis intervention center to help those youngsters in need out of psychological risks and rescue their lives from suicide attempts which are reported every now and then in China.

Suicide now ranks the fifth cause of death in China, next only to those from cardiovascular diseases, malignant tumors, respiratory diseases and accidental deaths, according to the China Psychological Health Association based in Nanjing.

The association acknowledged that suicide is the top death cause for people aged from 15 to 34 in the nation.

As improper parenting is often to blame for the kids' psychological handicaps, Shanghai's "love for life" education will also involve parents, who are hoped to care for and love their kids and learn some parenting skills, including moral education at home, nutrition, physical training and psychological health of their children.

By the year 2010, about 90 percent of the parents and other custodians in the city are expected to have received the training, said sources with the municipal government.

Shanghai's education authorities are in the meantime working to compile a more appealing set of moral education textbooks by deleting some of the outdated chapters from the current version and highlighting on love for life.

In an effort to ease children's workload, the city has banned homework first and second graders and ruled that even older primary school kids should spend no more than 30 minutes on their home assignments.

Local education authority has also underscored social practice, which can be a voluntary service or some simple field work and is expected to keep the youngsters updated about what is going on outside their campuses and imbue them with a higher sense of social responsibility.

The time set for social practice is 10 days, 20 days and 30 days a year respectively for primary school pupils, junior highs and senior highs.

(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2004)